Danny Phantom: Danny's Little Bo
by DEAD-ACCOUNT-08
Summary: Danny rescues a kitten from a tree.It bears no ID.He adopts and hides it from his parents.The gang knows something is up when they find a mysterious letter in the kittens collar.But when Danny starts acting a little...catlike? DISCONTINUED BY ONE CHAPTER
1. Meow?

Chapter 1

Casper High School's campus glowed welcomingly at the swarm of students that crowded its well-groomed lawns. The familiar sound of many chattering voices combined into one fluctuating noise filling the air.

Among the hustle and bustle, one student in particular rested in the shade of a young oak tree.

Unkempt raven-black hair partially hid his naturally pale face. He sat with his back against the sturdy trunk, chin resting on his knees in a content fashion. Dreamy crystal blue eyes stared beyond the crowds, marveling at grand fantasies that only he could see.

Spread out on the spongy grass beside him where two other teenagers. One was a girl with dark hair and sinister black clothing; making her appearance somewhat determined and strong-willed despite her relaxed expression.

Unlike his other two friends, the third one of the group squinted in concentration at a worn PDA that he always carried around, his shoulders tensed at whatever was happening on the miniature screen. Suddenly the device let out a high pitched beeping.

The boy who had been daydreaming against the tree jumped slightly at the noise and snapped back into reality, only to give his friend an irritated glare. "Tucker," he complained, "can't you shut that thing up?" "Hey, I didn't mean to make it do that!" Tucker said defensively, switching the sound off. "Well, be more careful next time!"

The girl, who had been watching from her comfortable position in the grass, sat up. Casually balancing on the heels of her silver-rimmed boots, she broke into the conversation. "You two can't go through a single day without having a fight of some sort can you?" Though her words were stern, the girl's tone held no hostility. The two boys looked at her, then back at each other. The raven-haired boy smiled forgivingly and held out a hand.

Their brief apology was interrupted by the familiar chime of the school bell ringing out over the noisy campus. Suddenly the place was alive with students rushing to their next class.

The three friends stood up hurriedly. "Where are you headed off to Danny?" The girl asked him.

The dark-haired teenager suddenly looked worried. "Oh no…" He groaned miserably, "I just remembered, there was a change in my schedule, my first day of Spanish starts today." "And what's so bad about that?" She asked him. Danny's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe she could say such a thing. "Are you kidding? I can barely keep my grades up in English!" "Relax." She told him coolly, "I took an introduction class to Spanish last year, it's not that hard." Danny snorted doubtfully. "Really!"She insisted, "Just remember that 'Si' means yes, and you're off to a good start."

They entered the school's indoor hallways just as the late bell rang. "Thanks Sam." Danny grumbled half-heartedly, obviously not encouraged by her advice. "I'll see you later." Sam watched him disappear among the rushing crowd and shook her head; the ghost issue was really taking a toll on him this week.

-----

Danny stepped through the door that was meant to be his new classroom, immediately he felt the temperature drop. A female teacher in the front of the room narrowed her eyes at him as he entered. Danny thought she looked kind of like one of those witches from that old 'Wizard of Oz' movie he used to watch. "Mr. Fenton," The teacher addressed him, "so good of you to join us, please take a seat." She sounded impatient. Danny took a seat near the front of the room, having no choice because all of the desks in the back had been taken.

"And do you have an excuse for being late?" She asked him. Danny watched her nervously; something in her voice was daring him to try and say anything to get him out of trouble. He looked at the floor submissively. "No ma'am." The teacher smirked and turned away to scribble something down at her desk. "We are NOT going to get along this year." Danny thought darkly, glaring at the back of her crimson business suit.

After their bitter encounter, she ignored Danny for most of the period. But then, there was the last five minutes of class. "Now, can anyone answer my question in Spanish?"

Danny, having lost interest a long while back in the last hour, was staring blankly out the window, oblivious to the teacher's Spanish babble. "Wow… the clouds move reeeally slowly in the afternoon…" Something red flashed across the sky at an extreme speed before vanishing into thin air. "What was that?" A thin trail of fog escaped his lips. "Oh no…" "It seems that Mr. Fenton knows the answer." Danny's attention snapped back to the teacher. "Wha?" She sighed impatiently and repeated the question in Spanish. Danny gave her a panicked stare. "Um…Uuuh……Si?" He tried.

She looked a little surprised but left him alone and continued the lesson.

"What?" he thought silently, "I was right? YES!" Danny smiled to himself. "Thank you Sam!" Shortly after the bell rang, Danny gathered up his books and rushed out the door before the crabby teacher could catch him with another Spanish question.

Tucker and Sam met him at the front of the school. "How did it go?" Sam asked him innocently. "I think my Spanish teacher is a witch." He replied sullenly. She sighed sympathetically, "I take it that means things didn't go well?" Danny nodded. The trio of friends started down the sidewalk.

"What about you Tucker, how were things over at math?" he asked his friend. Tucker shrugged, "Same old thing," he said, "Mr. Lancer is assigning WAY too much homework, but you know how that goes." "Yeah." he agreed. They walked on without saying anything for a while.

Danny stared tiredly at the sky until he suddenly remembered the red streak from earlier. "Oh yeah," he broke the silence, "I forgot to tell you guys, I think another ghost got out today. "Again?" Tucker and Sam moaned together. "Uh huh," Danny told them "I saw it near the end of Spanish." Sam scanned the sky attentively at this. "It could still be around for all we know," She said, half to herself, "did you remember the thermos today?" "Of course!" Danny exclaimed. Sam shrugged, "Then you have nothing to worry about." "But we still have to find it!" he argued. "We can't just-" he gasped as his ghost sense went off. "See?"

Suddenly the three where on high alert. With a quick glance around, Danny jumped behind a nearby tree to go ghost. Sam tossed him the Fenton Thermos from his backpack. "See anything?" Danny asked, clipping the thermos onto his white belt. "Not yet." His friends answered. "Well, keep-" _meerow!_ "Whoa, did you hear that?" _M__E__ROW! _Danny scanned the area for the source of the noise.

"It's in the tree." Sam mused; walking past him to the thick Aspen Danny had just been hiding behind. "Sam! You don't know what's up there!" A small smile crossed her face as she looked up. "Oh, I think I do." She motioned for her Danny to come closer. "What?" he asked; more curious rather than anxious now.

Sam pointed to something among the branches. Danny's face lit up in surprise. "You're kidding!" "What is it?" Tucker asked from the sidewalk, not wanting to be left out of the excitement. Danny ignored him and flew up into the tree. His two friends watched the tree's coating of leaves rustle quietly for a moment. Then they heard Danny muttering "Ow…" before he came floating back down with a small, furry, bundle in his hands. "What is it?" Tucker repeated, coming over to see for himself. He peered over Sam's shoulder and gasped in surprise "No way!"

The small bundle in Danny's gloved hands was nothing other than an innocent, blue-eyed, fuzzy grey kitten. He held it up; the miniature cat squirmed and mewled pathetically until Danny brought it close again. _Mrrrr… _it growled contently and buried its face in his black jumpsuit.

Sam couldn't suppress a giggle at her friend's puzzled expression as he stared confusedly at the purring ball of fur that was snuggling in his arms. "I think it likes you." She told him sweetly.

Danny pulled a weird face, not sure whether to frown of not, but definitely not wanting to smile. Instead, he examined the black collar around its neck. Slipping a finger under the leather strap and searching for an ID tag of some sort. Nothing.

Danny awkwardly stared once more at the kitten. It began to purr and knead his arm. "Ow, hey, I just got this suit stitched!" _mrrrow! _It continued to knead contently. Danny sighed and stroked it with his finger. "No," He caught himself silently, "Don't do that." Danny stopped petting the cat and noticed the smug grin on Sam's face. "Oh, you're enjoying this aren't you?" He asked; annoyed at how he had so easily embarrassed himself. She nodded brightly.

Tucker leaned down and picked something up at his feet. "What did you find?" Danny asked. "I dunno, it fell out of its collar." A neatly folded piece of paper rested in his hand. Tucker unfolded it and read it silently, his expression was a little disturbing when he passed it to Danny. "What?" he asked anxiously, scanning the paper in one hand with the infant cat in the other. Danny's eyes darted worriedly from the kitten to the paper and back again. The neat calligraphy plainly said:

_She's your problem now Danny Phantom_


	2. Figuring things out

Danny Fenton came to a steady halt at his front door and looked uncertainly at the purring bundle of love in his arms. "Why Sam thought it was such a great idea to keep you? I have no idea…" He thought irritably. As if the kitten could read his thoughts, it nuzzled his shoulder lovingly. Danny fought the sudden urge to cuddle it back, and looked back to the door instead.

"There is no way mom and dad will let me keep you… They already made that clear years ago when I wanted a puppy…" He glanced down at the kitten for the umpteenth time before a mischievous glint started to sparkle in his blue eyes. "Of course, mom and dad don't have to know…"

Danny held the kitten close and continued walking, swerving around the corner of the house to find himself in a musty alleyway. A towering brick wall stood to his right. He looked up at the second story window, the corner of faded purple curtains draped over the edge. Danny knew those curtains only too well.

After one last check to make sure he was alone, a glowing white ring expanded around his waist and separated both parts moving in opposite directions until Danny Fenton replaced by the famous white haired, green eyed ghost boy.

Making sure his precious cargo was secure in his arms, Danny flew upward until he was hovering across from the window. Then he simply turned both himself and the cat intangible and glided right through the wall, landing them safely on the cluttered floor.

Changing back to his human self, Danny placed his new friend on the floor and pressed his ear to the wall. Faint movement could be heard a few stories below. Satisfied, he pulled back. Those noises would mean that his parents were working down in the lab right now.

Danny relaxed and examined his room proudly. Everything was just like how he had left it, and just how he liked it, a messy yet cozy place to relax in the security from any new ghost experiments from his parents. (They seemed to be turning up almost daily now.)

Finally his gaze rested back on the kitten sitting in the floor. Wide, curious blue eyes stared back. Danny kneeled down, a little unsure of what to do; he didn't have much experience with animals. That was… besides with the ghost dog, and almost every time they meet, things still ended up chaotic.

After a little thought, he finally said, "I guess I should feed you or something." The kitten cocked its head at the sound of his voice. Suddenly Danny realized what he did. "Whoa… I did not just talk to the cat." He shook his head and stood up. "I think I'm coming down with something."

The kitten stared after him longingly as he started toward the door. Danny paused when he realized he was still being watched. He pointed the cat and said firmly, "Stay." Before walking out with the door securely shut behind him.

After a short trip down the stairs, Danny hopped off the last step and entered the kitchen. "Now, what do kittens eat?" he yanked open the fridge. It hummed quietly and blew cold air in Danny's face as he studied its contents. He stopped searching when he spotted a carton of milk. "I guess that could work for now."

He pulled the milk out and glanced at the door. Jazz would be coming home soon. Should he tell her about the cat? After some thought, he shook his head. Jazz is too honest to keep the kitten a secret; it was hard enough for her not to say anything about his ghost half.

Danny studied the carton critically. He could already feel the heat draining from his hands against the cold cardboard. "Surly it needs to be warmed up or something." He started toward the microwave and stopped. "Right… dad busted the microwave yesterday…" Danny turned to the stove instead. "Now, how do I work this thing?"

---

Danny, using the little knowledge he had with cooking, poured some milk in a small pot and let it sit over the flames for a while.

If there's one thing Danny learned that day, it was that milk could BURN.

He realized this when he was sitting at the kitchen table, reading whatever it was in the paper. Then he noticed something didn't smell right. Danny looked up from what he was doing to check on the milk. Everything seemed okay… He came over to give it few stirs, just in case…

The frothy white fluid swirled for a few moments before little, crusty, brown flakes floated to the top. Then it began to fizz and bubble. "That is NOT natural…" Danny hurriedly leaned forward to turn the flames off. "That was close…" He thought tiredly. Suddenly he paused and sniffed. "Wait… something's still burning…"His eyes wandered down to his white T shirt with the familiar red oval.

"OH CRUD!" Danny practically yelped in panic when he saw his shirt. A small flame had formed near the center from leaning over the stove, feeding off the fabric of his clothing and growing. Danny freaked out for a moment, then, rushing over to the sink, he grabbed the adjustable faucet and hosed himself down. Seemingly to overdoing the amount of water he really needed in his frantic rush.

After a few moments of self reassurance and deep breaths, Danny, now completely drenched, put the faucet back in place. "Okay, now THAT was really close." He thought, examining his dripping hands for a moment. Then something occurred to him. "I could have just used my ice powers to freeze the flame…" Danny smacked his forehead, "Man, I feel like an idiot!"

---

After mopping up the watery mess on the kitchen floor, Danny poured out more milk and tried again. This time he only allowed it to cook for a few minutes before taking it off the stove.

That seemed to do it. Finally, with the bowl of warm milk he had worked so hard for, a tired and wet Danny set off toward the stairs.

_Mew!_

"Wha?" Danny stopped and turned toward the noise.

_MEW! _

Danny's fluffy grey kitten strutted out from under the kitchen table.

"What? How did you… You were just… You--" _MEROW! _The kitten interrupted his stuttering and pawed impatiently at his ankles, smelling the milk he was holding.

Danny gave up and set the bowl down. The kitten peered cautiously over the edge of the bowl with round, curious eyes. Danny watched as it give the warm fluid a few experimental dabs with its paw and jump back. Then creep forward again. With a few more sniffs and samples, it hungrily plunged its face in the bowl.

"At least I did something right…" Danny sat on the floor and watched the kitten eat for a while. Then, out of pure boredom, pulled out the short letter that had been found in the cat's collar and read it over again.

_She's your problem now Danny Phantom._

Danny glanced doubtfully back at the kitten stuffing its face, somehow, he found it hard to believe that it could be a threat of any sort.

The kitten finished and padded over to nuzzle Danny's hand for attention. He picked it up thoughtfully, saying out loud, "It looks like we'll be stuck together for awhile."

The kitten answered him with a throaty purr and buried its nose in his palm. Danny smiled warmly and tickled it behind the ears, a little more at ease now that nobody was around.

"I haven't named it yet." Danny realized. He thought for a moment, "I'm guessing it's a girl cat… I mean, the letter did call it a 'she'," He ran through a list of names in his head but nothing sounded right. Danny placed her on the floor, hoping to suddenly get an idea from watching her play.

Her reaction was not the one Danny had hoped for. The moment her delicate kitten paws touched the ground, she sat down stubbornly and gave him a defiant glare that said, "I cannot believe you just did that!"

Danny was a little taken aback at this. He lay down to meet her eyes, "You know, I can't hold you forever!" The kitten narrowed her eyes unforgivingly. Danny gave an exasperated sigh, making the raven-black hair in his face flutter upward for a moment, before it settled back into place.

The kitten's pupils suddenly grew large and round.

"What?"Danny asked, as if he expected an answer.

She ignored him and crouched down, rocking lightly on her hunches, focused on something above his eyes. Danny started to feel a little uneasy, "Wait, what are you doing?"

The kitten pounced, grabbing as much hair as she could with her tiny claws.

"Arrrrrgh!"

Danny's scream was muffled by fuzzy hind paws that had lodged themselves in his mouth. Finally, ripping the cat off his face, he gasped, "What the heck did you do that for!" Being held by the scruff of her neck, the kitten wriggled playfully and chewed on something. A small tuft of black hair was sticking out of her mouth. Danny's eyes widened when he saw this.

"You didn't!" Danny said in disbelief, feeling his forehead where he found, sure enough, a patch of hair missing. He gave the kitten another disbelieving look. With shining blue kitten eyes, she stared back; curling her little tail in delight, a lock of Danny's hair was still hanging out from the corner of her mouth.

A small clicking sound started at the other side of the room. Danny's head turned to the door in alarm; Jazz was home. From the sound of it, she was fumbling with the lock, probably in a rush. He turned the kitten invisible and hid her behind his back. A few sharp pokes in his wrist told Danny that his little friend was NOT taking kindly to this.

The door flew open and Jazz ran in, resembling something like Danny when Vlad had figured out the password to his computer.

She took one look at her brother and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Danny! Is everything okay? I heard screaming! Wait, where's mom and dad?" Danny struggled out of his sister's grip, holding his arm out awkwardly to keep the currently invisible kitten from hitting anything.

"Jazz, its fine, mom and dad are working in the lab and there wasn't any screaming." He lied. Jazz relaxed, "Okay good, I thought something had happened."

Danny muttered something about an overprotective sister, but whether Jazz heard it or not, she didn't show it. Instead, she lifted his chin in concern, "What happened to your face, and …" Jazz paused and looked at his shirt, "why are you soaked in water?"

Danny tried his best to look innocent. "I umm…. Ow!" he winced as angry kitten teeth buried themselves in his hand. Jazz looked quizzical, "Ow?" she asked.

"No! I mean, what I meant to say was…" Danny stopped again and wriggled uncomfortably as the kitten continued to claw him. Jazz was starting to look a little worried, "Danny, are you okay?

Danny bit his lower lip painfully and scooted toward the stairs. "I'm fine," he managed to say. Jazz caught him by the shoulder again, not believing a word he said. Danny tried the innocent smile again. It didn't work. Jazz frowned and held out her hand. "What do you have?" she asked seriously.

Danny flinched again and tried to duck away. Jazz tightened her grip. "Show it to me." Her little brother stopped struggling and gave her a pleading look. "Promise you won't tell mom and dad?" He begged in his little brother voice. Now Jazz was looking curious.

"What is it? Danny ducked his head and held out the kitten that was mauling his hand, letting it turn visible.

Jazz's eyes softened kindly and she lifted the angry cat off of his hand. The kitten immediately went limp and went into a purring trance.

"Danny." his sister asked him gently. Danny looked up guiltily.

"How long have you had it?" "I found her today." He confessed shyly, taking his kitten back.

"And did you name it?" Jazz pressed. Danny looked down at his new pet, which was starting to doze off in his arms.

Suddenly Danny had a brief flashback.

----

His seven year old self, bundled up in a pile of warm blankets. Jazz was next to him, looking noticeably younger herself, but still slightly older than her other. A hard covered book was opened in front of them. It tattered and torn, but the poor book was still a favorite toy for the two kids. Danny's younger self pointed excitedly at one of the pages. A fuzzy grey kitten with sparkling violet eyes pranced across a snow covered sidewalk. Jazz lifted the book slightly for a better view. Now the cover was visible. Gold letters on it glinted a familiar name.

_End of flashback_

_-----_

Teenage Danny smiled sweetly at the sleeping kitten in his arms. "Yes." He told Jazz. "I named her Little Bo."


	3. An enjoyable nuisance

Hey people, it's GladiatorQueen. (though you probably guessed that already)… Sorry, I have a bad habit of forgetting to put my author's notes in before I post my chapters. (That explains why I haven't put any in yet.) Anyways, I know it's a little late to be mentioning this, but since I absolutely hate the short summary for this, and I forgot to include this in the first chapter, so anyone who's interested in seeing the full summary can find it on my profile, easy to find, very top paragraph, **bold** letters.

I wish I had something more interesting to say, but that's about it.

Chapter 3

"So how's your Little Bo?"Sam asked in a sweet tone, passing Danny a red dodge ball. He scowled and ignored the question; he knew she was trying to bug him. Sam had been acting like this all week. She thought it was SO cute that Amity Park's all-powerful super hero, Danny Phantom had a pet kitten and he was getting pretty sick of her teasing.

He bounced the ball a few times and chucked it at the gym's wall moodily. He wasn't wearing his T-shirt and jeans as usual; instead he was dressed in a tacky Casper High P.E. uniform.

Another day stuck at school. Another day forced to play some physical fitness game that he didn't want to participate in.

"Dude, you really need to lighten up." Tucker told him, "You've been like this all week." This really got Danny cross.

"How about you go through a week of high school deprived of sleep, caring for an infant cat, and getting a constant beating by your worst enemies who are, by the way, ghosts! Then let's see how you feel!"

Tucker looked closely at his friend; dark shadows under his friend's eyes betrayed the fact that he was truly exhausted. But still, it was pretty hard to take Danny seriously when he had that ridiculous looking bald spot Bo had given him on his forehead, and Tucker was getting pretty tired of Danny's negative behavior anyway. Without much emotion, he said, "Look, I know you've had a bad week, but just chill! I mean, come on, it's Friday!"

Danny huffed angrily and chucked the ball again, it slammed hard off the wall before returning obediently into his open hands.

"Hey, at least Jazz promised to keep your cat a secret." Sam said, trying to lighten the mood.

Her attempt was useless….

"HEY FENTON!"

Danny closed his eyes and dug his fingers into the rubber coating of the ball. He could recognize that voice anywhere, this really was turning out to be a bad week.

Without bothering to look up, he said in a tone that was on the verge of breaking, "WHAT, Dash?"

"Did your girlfriend decide give you a decent haircut?" the bully's voice sneered teasingly from behind.

This got both Danny and Sam's attention. Sam glaring defiantly from behind while Danny snarled, "She is NOT my girlfriend!"

This resulted on several provoking 'Oohs' from Dash's friends who were hovering nearby. Now Danny was really mad.

Drawing his arm with the ball back slowly, he aimed at the bully's head, determined to give him a lesson he wouldn't soon forget. "I'm usually opposed to violence at school, but I'm willing to make an exception for this jerk." Danny thought darkly, swinging his rubber weapon forward.

Everything happened really fast after that, Dash ducked quickly when he saw the ball coming, causing it to ricochet off the wall behind him and fly back in the opposite direction. Danny on the other hand, was focused on the bully before he realized what was happening.

There was a loud 'smack' and a light 'thud'. The next thing you know, Danny was is on the ground, out cold.

Dash and his friends broke into hysterical laughter while Sam and Tucker rushed to their friend's side. "Danny?" Sam shook him a few times. Her friend remained silent and unresponsive. She turned to Dash, "You are such a jerk! You know that?" The bully shrugged carelessly.

"He's the one who brought it upon himself; all I had to do was watch."

Sam's hands tightened into fists at this, but anything that she was planning to do was interrupted by the voice of their outraged P.E. coach. "What just happened here?" The teacher pushed through the crowd and spotted Danny."MANSION!" Sam scrambled away from Danny in fear.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" She exclaimed defensively.

The teacher narrowed her eyes doubtfully at Sam, and then saw Dash and his friends."You! Did you have anything to do with this?" She pointed at them.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Dash repeated what Sam said in a shrill mocking voice, earning him a few snickers from his friends. This made the teacher even angrier, "I will see YOU in my office." She told him. "And you," she looked Sam over; innocence was written all over the girl's face. She softened her tone a little, "You will take this young man to the nurse."

"Right away." Sam replied eagerly, lifting Danny with surprising ease. The coach watched her with an impressed expression as the rushed out the door with the raven-haired boy limp in her arms. Then she turned and realized Dash was still there.

"I thought I told you to wait in my office!" The bully raced away with the teacher smirking after him.

* * *

"It's not funny Tuck!" Danny glared daggers at his friend. Thanks to having passed out a P.E., he had to miss fourth and fifth period until he woke up, and THEN Danny had to wait for the school nurse to give him his 'check up' incase he had gotten a concussion or something. 

He was released just in time to go to Spanish. The teacher just HAD to decide to give them more homework than usual that day.

By the time school ended, Danny was NOT in the mood to put up with Tucker laughing at him. But his friend didn't seem to get the hint.

"Come on! You have to admit that was funny, I mean, you ACTUALLY knocked yourself out with a dodge ball? That was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen!" Tucker continued to badger him.

Danny blushed deep red in embarrassment and walked faster to catch up with Sam, who was walking ahead of them. At least she didn't see the whole incident as a joke.

"Is he bugging you again?" She asked kindly. Danny smiled gratefully; at least Sam showed a little sympathy. They stopped at the door to his house.

"Thanks Sam." He said with tired appreciation. She blinked back at him and watched her friend trudge up the steps to the house with his head hung low.

"That's the nicest conversation we've had all week." Sam thought.

* * *

Danny stopped in his gloomy stride down the hall at the strange noises coming from Jazz's room. His gaze shifted off to his bedroom door, then temptingly back to Jazz's. It was too much for his curiosity to handle. Danny peeked around his sister's door. What he found really was an awkward sight. 

Um, Jazz? Why are you setting up a fish tank in your room? Danny asked in genuine curiosity, helping himself inside.

"Extra credit project." She explained curtly, hooking up various tubes.

Danny casually sat on her bed and picked up a plastic bag full of water and black, miniature, snake-like animals. "You're raising leeches?" he asked in confusion.

Jazz rolled her eyes at his ignorance. "Tadpoles Danny, not leeches." She explained in irritation, pointing to a label that her little brother just noticed near the bag's top.

"Tadpoles?" Danny repeated, watching the creatures squirm amongst each other.

"That's what it says." Jazz said impatiently, taking the bag away. Danny glowered and sulked to the door, obviously his sister was not in a talkative mood.

"This is the worst day of my life." He thought moodily, "I managed to humiliate myself in front of my entire P.E. class, I've got tons of Spanish homework, not to mention all of the other work I missed while I was in the nurses office…" He was nearing his bedroom door, "and Tucker will just not shut up about what happened-"

"Danny?"

Danny stopped in his tracks at the soft sound of his mom's voice. "What?" he muttered miserably. A comforting hand rested on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Maddie asked.

Danny shrugged her off. "Why do parents bug you at the worst of times?" he thought in frustration.

_MEW!_

The teenage halfa suddenly went rigid. "Ooooh crud…"

"Did you hear something Danny?"

Danny turned to face his mom, "Look, uh mom? I have a lot of homework; can I go, like … now?" Maddie gave her son a confused look.

"Thanks!" Danny said, not bothering to wait for an answer. Sprinting between the short distance between him and his room, he locked himself inside before his mom could object.

With his back against the door, Danny listened to the footsteps of Maddie walking away before sliding down to the floor. Great, now he was wracked with exhaustion AND guilt.

_MEW! _Bo hopped down from the bookshelf to greet her friend. A tiny tingle followed her every little step from a small silver bell that hung on her collar, courtesy of Sam.

Danny gave the kitten an irritated look as she weaved pleasurably around his ankles. Lifting her up by the scruff of her neck, he said sternly, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused me all week?"

Bo ignored him and purred happily. Danny placed her in his lap, still feeling a little frustrated. Talking to the cat had become a habit for him, not that he expected an answer, but sometimes he wished she would understand. It would make disciplining the fur ball a lot easier.

Danny shooed her off his lap and stood up. She followed her across the room as he opened his closet where all his 'kitty care' supplies were hidden, along with a small pet carrier for when he might need to keep her hidden. But so far, Bo had been content with hiding in the nest of blankets Danny set up for her under his bed.

Bo only purred louder as her sensitive kitten ears picked up the tinkering of Danny pouring special 'nine life formula' kibble into an empty sugar bowl he had stolen from the kitchen. It seemed to work well as an improvisation, and Bo certainly didn't seem to mind. The kitten immediately began to gulp down the soft pieces after the bowl was set on the ground.

Having that done, Danny gave Bo a few strokes along her spine with his finger and walked over to collapse on his bed, sighing softly; it was nice to relax. At this rate, he never wanted to get up again.

_MEROW!_

Bo had finished and was springing up on the bed to join him. Danny felt a small paws jump onto his back and explore briefly before they trailed over to his head. Thin whiskers brushed against his neck. _MEW!_

Danny grunted in reply, he knew the kitten wanted attention, and he was feeling way too lazy to move right now.

_MEEEEEEEEEW! _Bo pressed, giving the boy a gentle bite on the ear.

Danny turned to the source of his annoyance, to find a kitten that was looking very pleased to have gotten his attention. At this he couldn't stop a small smile from creeping across his lips. Bo was demanding, but she really was a great spirit-lifter. He gave Bo a few appreciative strokes across her small back and stopped abruptly as his breath turned cold and foggy. He felt his blood begin to boil again.

"Right when I thought I could relax for a few moments." Danny muttered angrily, getting up to look out the window. Almost at once he found the problem. "SKULKER!!!" He roared grabbing the thermos on his dresser changing to Phantom in a flash.

Bo scrabbled onto the windowsill out of pure curiosity as Danny sped outside. Wondering blue eyes watched as her teenage friend, now having white hair, green eyes, and a costume change; fought the robotic ghost unforgivingly, powered on the rage that had been building up inside him all day. Bo flicked her ears at the sound of the angry squeaking voice of Skulker, who had now been pulled out of his mechanical suit and dangling upside down from Danny's gloved hand.

"One day whelp, one day tour head will hang in my trophy room!" the miniature ghost shrieked.

Danny pulled a disgusted face and sucked Skulker into the thermos before the hunter could scream anything else.

Battered but pleased, the halfa drifted back into his room and changed back over his bed, falling harmlessly out of the air onto his mattress.

Danny's fingers relaxed slowly and the thermos dropped to the floor. No matter, he would release Skulker into the ghost zone later. For now, he just wanted to rest; Danny was about to drift off, when Bo worked her way under his chin and curled up. He felt the warm, moist kitten nose pressed against his neck, and heard her soft purring next to his ear.

Danny smiled slightly and placed a gentle hand over small cat, scratching behind her soft, fox-like ears. Maybe Bo could be a nuisance, but she was a nice nuisance.

She seemed to be purring more loudly than usual tonight, and that was Danny's last thought before he fell asleep.

Little did he know, Bo wasn't the only one purring.


	4. Mystery Kitty

"Ha!" Danny laughed playfully as he shot an ecto-blast at one of his home-made targets, a piece of cardboard with a poorly drawn ghost on it. Light, papery pieces scattered to the ground. The teenage halfa did a playful little loop in the air shot more, hitting each perfectly in a neat row, and then finishing by blasting the last one with Jazz's face drawn over it in purple crayon. Danny ALWASE finished by shooting a Jazz target. With a final giggle, he floated to the tiled floor.

It was Saturday, the morning after the dodge ball incident at school, and Danny was in a VERY good mood. He didn't know why, but he was. It's just… one of those mornings when you wake up and just want to greet the whole world and do a fancy little jig. (At least he hadn't gotten to that point.)

Instead, He had rushed straight down to the lab to spend a good period of time training. Sure he was fussing over having a lot of homework yesterday, but Tucker and Sam were coming by later so they could study together, he planned do it then.

Danny took a deep breath and let two glowing white rings appear around his waist, one moving up and the other moving down until he was in his full human form.

From a far corner in the room, Bo poked her nose around the leg of one of the lab tables and peered cautiously at the boy who had just defied the laws of nature in less than two seconds.

_MEW?_ She asked. Danny glanced over his shoulder to look at the cat; they were spending more and more time together when things weren't too busy, why stop at a little target practice? "You can come out now." Danny told her reassuringly.

At this, Bo went into a full blown sprint past his ankles and skidded to a halt by the pile of cardboard shards on the ground. Danny watched in some amusement as she nosed through the pieces and looked back at him in excitement, fluffy tail flagged high in the air at the discovery of these new, strange paper-like substances.

_MEW! _She told Danny, making him smile by scuffling across the floor in pursuit of the endless cardboard pieces. She caught one between her claws and shoved in her mouth, only to spit it out and lick vigorously at her whiskers in confusion at the 'prey's' lack of taste.

A small click started at the lab door. Danny hurriedly changed back to his ghost form a sped across the room to grab Bo."Time to go kitty!" He told her cheerfully, spiraling upward with the cat in his arms. Bo squealed in surprise as they phased straight through the ceiling and landed on the floor of Danny's room.

"Ow, hey watch the claws!" Danny scolded, while the kitten fussed at him. Bo jumped to the ground indignantly, landing perfectly on all four paws; then turned to look expectantly at Danny.

He got the hint. His kitten trotted after him as he went to the closet to fill up her food bowl. With Bo occupied with her kibble, Danny headed to the downstairs to get some breakfast for himself.

Instead of making any other futile attempts at cooking, he snatched some cereal from the cupboards. Danny KNEW he could make cereal.

Jazz walked in a short while later to find Danny busy with breakfast at the table, not noticing her walk in. "Hey Danny…" "What!" Her little brother jumped up to face her, wide-eyed and breathing hard as if Dan Phantom himself had just walked in. His sister took a few steps back, giving him an awkward look, "Good grief, it's just me, no need to have a panic attack."

Danny slumped back into his chair, his pleasant mood suddenly gone."Well, don't do that then."

"Do what?"

"Sneak up on me."

"I never did."

"You shouldn't tell lies Jazz."

"You shouldn't be so tense all the time."

"I'm not."

"You shouldn't tell lies Danny."

Danny shot her a glare, but Jazz continued to watch him with a cool expression, "What are you so anxious; did Vlad sneak into the house last night or something?"

The thought of the older halfa watching him in his sleep made Danny wince. He imagined Vlad hidden among darkness, watching his every slow, restful breath with those glowing red eyes, a long, jagged dagger in one hand…

"Danny!"Something touched his shoulder. Danny jumped and yelped again, knocking over his bowl of cereal in the process. "I told you not to sneak up on me like that!" he snapped, looking in annoyance at the milky mess on the floor. Jazz pulled her hand back, looking offended. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing! Did you have something to tell me or did you just come in here to bug me?" Danny demanded, turning to suck milk out of the sleeve of his shirt. Jazz pulled a face, "Eww, Danny, that's disgusting!"

Danny stopped and just seemed to realize what he was doing. He hastily turned back to his sister, licking his lips shamelessly. Jazz was giving him a repulsive look now, "I'm going out, and mom and dad are at the store so you'll be home alone." Danny didn't say anything, so Jazz took the chance to call one last thing over her shoulder before she walked out the door, "and clean up the mess you made in the lab."

"You're not the boss of me!" Danny yelled after her, but the door had already clicked shut. Moody and annoyed, he cleaned the spilt cereal and headed back upstairs, NOT to the lab to clean up his mess.

Bo's friendly "mew" greeted him at the door. Danny heard her but couldn't see her. _MEW! _She squealed again, almost playfully. "Bo!" He called, a little irritated at the cat now._ MEEEW! _He looked up in surprise at the source. Bo's round blue eyes peered back from the ceiling fan. Danny hurriedly changed to his ghost form and flew up to fetch the kitten. Bo purred innocently and nuzzled him back as they landed on the bed. "How did you get up there?"

Bo, like always, ignored his question and continued to nuzzle. Danny sighed and changed back to his human self.

--------------

Like planned, Tucker and Sam came over later that afternoon. Bo was enjoying a lot of attention from both of them until finally; (and surprisingly) Danny decided to put her in the kitty carrier in his closet so they could focus on homework.

"You're so mean." Sam huffed, pulling some math papers out of her backpack.

"Forget it; can you help me with some Spanish later?" Danny asked, changing the subject.

"Si, como no."

"What?"

Sam sighed, "Never mind…"

Danny shrugged and got his own math homework out.

_MEEEEEEEEW!! _Bo's angry squeals sounded from the closet, declaring to the world that she was not happy with being locked up.

This went on for quite a while, every few problems solved was interrupted by outraged yowls coming from the closet. Somehow they got through it until the noise finally quieted. It was a relief for everyone.

"Here," Danny said, handing Sam a hard-covered textbook, "Quiz me."

She took it and flipped to the books marked page. "Spanish vocabulary?"

"Si." Danny said brightly.

Sam gave him a critical look, "That doesn't count, I taught you that one last week."

Danny snorted, "Whatever, ask me something then." Sam smiled, "Okay then…" she studied the page for a while, "how do you say… 'To pet the cat?'" her friend looked thoughtful. "To el stroke de el gato." He replied smartly.

Tucker, who had abandoned his work to watch them, burst out laughing. Danny looked offended. "What?"

"Danny!" Sam told him, chuckling a bit herself, "About half of what you said wasn't even Spanish.

"Well I tried!" he said defensively.

"Look," she gave him the book back. "go over it, and then I'll quiz you."

"Not fair…" Danny muttered, staring hard at the pages.

Without warning, the door flew open. "DANNY!!!" Jazz screamed, storming in the room. For the first time in his life, Danny squealed in surprise. His sister ignored him and screeched again. "THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!" she shoved something wet in his face.

"Wha?" Danny asked; a little dazed from all of the yelling. Jazz was holding Bo by the scruff of her neck, her soft kitten fur spiked up from water in her fur, but she looked very content. Danny took the drenched kitten back, still holding her by the scruff. She made a hiccup-like sound and gave him a throaty purr.

He turned to his sister, "What's the problem, how did she get out?" With her face was still deep red from anger, she pointed accusingly at Bo. "That is the problem!" Jazz snarled. "That cat and all twenty-five of my missing tadpoles!"

Danny gasped as he realized what she was saying. "She didn't!" he said in amazement, looking at the kitten's swollen belly. Bo purred even louder and cuffed a paw innocently at the remaining hair on his forehead.

"Yes, she did, every single one!" Jazz continued, "I NEEDED THOSE FOR MY PROJECT; I BOUGHT THOSE WITH MY OWN MONEY! YOU OWE ME TEN BUCKS DANNY!"

Danny flinched back from her and dug his wallet out of his pocket. "Here," he handed her a ten-dollar bill with his spare hand, "Now, will you get off my case?" Jazz snatched the money and gave Bo another suspicious look before glaring back at Danny. "Keep an eye on your cat; or I WILL tell mom and dad about her. With that, she left.

"Wow, I've never seen Jazz's bad side before." Sam remarked.

Danny brought Bo back to his closet; the kitty carrier's door was still locked shut. He looked back at the purring cat in his hand. "How did you get out?"

Tucker came over and gave the cage door a few experimental tugs. It wouldn't budge. "That's weired…" he mused.

"Let me try something." Sam said, coming over to take Bo from Danny.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, giving her the kitten

"You'll see…" she said, putting the cat back in the cage. Immediately Bo had another fit.

"Watch," Sam told them, "obviously she doesn't want to be locked up, so just wait until she decides to come out again, then we'll know how she does it."

"Smart." Danny observed, sitting down to watch. Sam and Tucker did the same.

Bo hissed angrily and fussed around the cage, thrashing her tail about. She stuck her nose through the bars, sniffed a few times; then did something nobody was expecting; walked straight through the door.

The trio of friends watched wide-eyed as Bo strutted over to Danny and prodded his hand in hope of getting a good scratch. He silently picked her up and rubbed numbly behind the cat's ears.

Sam finally said, "So she's a ghost?"

Danny nodded slowly, still looking at Bo. "Gee," he said quietly, "that explains a lot."

-----

**I know the last chapter wasn't very eventful, so this one makes a nice addition.**

**And I'm going to have some fun with the upcoming chapters.**

**Gladiatorqueen**


	5. Issues

Danny absently drew a line across the tiled ground with the tips of his sneakers, looking everywhere except into Sam's intimidating glare. Then and there he personally decided to label them as the 'evil eyes'. It seemed to fit well, and the fact that Tucker was joining in this argument, and taking Sam's side made things ten times worse.

"Darnit Danny! Stop stalling and give me a straight answer!" Sam pressed, losing patience. Danny flinched.

"Really, do you really think I would hide anything from you guys?" he protested.

His friends gave him a skeptical look. Sam answered, "That's what we thought, but obviously not. WHY are you rubbing your face on inanimate objects?" "I'm n-" he started to say something, but she cut him off. "Danny," Sam sighed, "Don't try to deny it, that's the third time you've done it this morning. What, are you getting a rash on your face or something?"

"No!"

"Then what is it?"

"I-I don't know, there's nothing wrong!"

Danny was getting increasingly frustrated with the two of them, but this was his fault … in a way. It had begun before school, (today was Monday) Tucker and Sam were walking with him. They passed a mailbox, and Danny came to an abrupt halt to smear the side if his face against it before running to catch up with them as if nothing had happened. But that was only strike one.

Strike two came when he did the same thing to the door frame at the school's main entrance. By then, Tucker and Sam were realizing something was up.

Strike three came just now. Danny was putting his books in his locker, having a cheerful conversation with the two of them… and subconsciously ran his cheek across the locker door. That was the last strike, and his friends didn't hold back on asking what was wrong, even when it turned into an interrogation.

Honestly, Danny didn't know what was wrong, or if something was wrong at all. Apparently Sam and Tucker were determined to make a big deal out of it though; Jazz was pointing things out yesterday too. He looked thoughtful when he turned to march off to class.

First period was pretty uneventful, but then again, nothing much ever happened in history class, except, well, history. Danny was first to leave when the bell rang, next up was math. Sam would be there too.

Mr. Lancer was always famous for giving out ridiculously large amounts of homework. But, for once, with the help of Tucker and Sam, Danny actually remembered to do it last weekend. He could tell Mr. Lancer was impressed.

"Keep this up Mr. Fenton, and maybe your grades will go up."

Danny beamed; he was actually on his teacher's good side this morning.

Feeling a little more enthusiastic, Danny paid a little more attention in class. It didn't last long though, no amount of praise could keep math interesting for too long. With less and less liveliness, he watched the teacher scribble some problems down on the board and begin to explain them.

Then something else got his attention.

_Crinkle_

"Paper…" Danny thought longingly, watching the nearby stack of collected homework sitting by the built-in air conditioner. The thin corner of the top sheet wiggled ever so lightly, almost like it was taunting him. Danny felt a fiery prickle at the back of his neck. "I gotta kill it, I just have to."

He suddenly stopped and turned his attention back to the whiteboard. "Focus…"he told himself.

Mr. Lancer narrowed his eyes at him. Danny shifted uneasily in his chair. "Why is he giving me that look?"

"Mr. Fenton"

"Yes sir."

"Is there a reason you're not doing the remaining problems on the board like the rest of the class?"

Danny looked around the room. Everybody else was busy writing down formulas and numbers. Sam sent him a curious glance from across the room, which was quickly blocked out by the figure of Mr. Lancer standing in front of him. "Mr. Fenton, if you want to improve your grades, you'll have to do more than just finish a few homework assignments."

Danny wasn't listening, the paper was right there, he could see it out of the corner if his eye. The soft blow of the air conditioner making it rise and then fall again, so tempting…

"Are you listening?"

Danny twitched involuntarily and snapped his attention back to the teacher, "What?"

Mr. Lancer gave him a dangerous look, making Danny realize he must have just said something really, REALLY stupid.

_Crinkle…_

Danny's eyes widened, "Paper…" he thought again. Immediately his gaze darted back to the pile; the top sheet was about ready to blow off.

"Lord of the Rings Mr. Fenton! Do I need to give you detention for the sake of getting you to listen in my class?" Mr. Lancer slapped his hand across the surface of the desk to emphasize his point. Danny anxiously kept switching his focus on the teacher to the pile and back.

Mr. Lancer raised his eyebrows as his student suddenly went rigid, at the same time he heard a soft crinkle. A sheet of paper floated lazily across the room, coming very close to his desk. Danny began to make a low rumbling sound in the back of his throat. The paper was only inches away… Now!

_BAM!_

Danny made a furious grab for the paper and pinned it down on the surface of his desk, planting his face down on it with a gleeful growl.

"MR. FENTON!"

"mmmmrrrrrrow…." he looked back up at Mr. Lancer, a slobbery strip of Kwan's homework hanging out of the corner of his mouth. All at once the insane sparkle seemed to leave his eyes, and Danny hastily pulled the piece of paper out of his mouth. He looked guiltily at Mr. Lancer, his cheeks deep red in humiliation.

"You can punish me now … sir."

--------------------------

Sam cornered Danny in the hallway after class. "Okay Danny, spill. Whatever ghost you fought in the past week, it poisoned you or something, whether you want to believe it or not and if you don't want to figure this out, Tucker and I will do it ourselves.

"Sam! I haven't fought anything that I'm not familiar with in the last week! I'm just… tired or something."

She gave him a suspicious look, "Danny, something is wrong with you."

------------------------

Sam and Tucker came home with Danny after school. (his behavior in class had creeped Mr. Lancer out so much that he didn't bother to give the boy detention) But now, he might have preferred being punished by his teacher. His friends were questioning him about everything he had done in the last week. Weather it was the ghosts he had fought or what he had eaten, they asked about anything that could be suspicious. It's not like he minded much, it was nice that they cared, but the way they were acting made him feel uneasy.

Danny was the first to walk in the door, with Sam and Tucker close behind. Jazz looked up from her homework at the counter, she had beaten them home.

"Hey Danny, I've started working on Bo's cage, you know, to make it ghost proof and stuff. You might want to take a look at it." She sounded pleasant, but her tone darkened a bit when she added one last thing, "Keep her away from my new tadpoles if you know what's good for you."

Oddly, Danny looked so thrilled that it was almost disturbing. "You really worked on some of it? I couldn't ask for a better sister!" he said happily, giving her a huge hug before setting off for the stairs. Jazz stared after her brother in surprise before turning to give Sam and Tucker a questioning look. The two friends returned it hopelessly and ran off after Danny.

The rest of the evening was pretty calm. Danny would have a strange outburst now and then; which only added to Tucker and Sam's concern. Outbursts such as; mood swings, rubbing his face on numerous things, he was even caught licking the palms of his hands clean.

Sam personally began to think he was acting like a cat. But Danny seemed physically fine, he didn't look sick, that's was what was important. She tried to bring this up with Tucker when they left, but she quickly realized with some irritation that he wasn't taking her seriously.

Danny was a little worried that night too. Was he acting unusual? It didn't feel like it, but then again, did he always have that urge to do the things he did today? "What am I asking myself, of course I never have! How can I be so clueless? Maybe something is wrong with me!" he had trouble falling asleep.

Bo snuggled up next to him with a soft purr that finally helped him drift off.

--------------------

The next morning, Danny woke up, arched his back in a luxurious stretch, crossed the room, stopped dead, walked back a few steps and looked in the mirror. At first, all he could manage were a few whimpers, then finally, realization slapped him in the face and Danny let out the scream of his life.

(Hey, who wouldn't scream if they woke up with two silky black cat ears?)

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Lol, poor Danny. I feel mean… but the idea of a kitty Danny seems insanely hilarious and adorable at the same. Hope you enjoyed this chapter 'cause it was a load of fun to write!

Gladiatorqueen


	6. Kitty Phantom

Jazz nearly spilled her coffee in surprise. "Was that Danny?" She thought worriedly, setting off for the stairs. "That almost sounded like a distressed wail of some sort…" Mental images of one of Danny's countless enemies putting him through a violent beating flashed through her mind.

Jazz picked up her pace at these thoughts until it turned into a panicked run. "Danny!" She called worriedly, yanking his bedroom door open. A huddled lump under the bed covers whined in response. Bo peeked out cautiously from under the dresser. "Danny?" She asked again, a little more curious than scared now. He didn't reply. Jazz tried to pull the cover away, but he squeaked and tightened his grip.

She tugged harder, he held on. "Let go!" the blanket made a slight ripping sound as her brother slid gradually toward the edge of the bed. Suddenly the lump that resembled Danny tumbled to the floor with a painful thud that made Jazz cringe in sympathy.

The covers moved around for a moment before baby blue eyes peered shyly out from underneath. Then, altogether he shook the blanket off and Jazz gasped. "D-Danny! Your ears… they're… they're um…"

Her little brother flicked his kitty ears to show that he already knew what she was about to say.

A small smile began to work its way at the corner of Jazz's mouth. Danny narrowed his eyes. "What?" the teenager demanded.

The smile vanished as quickly as it had come. "Nothing," She said flatly, "and I'm assuming you don't know how you ended up with… uh," she paused and pinched the tip of one of his pointed ears, "those?"

He jerked his head away in irritation and looked in the mirror, a mix of doubt and nausea returned to his face, as if he still couldn't believe this was happening.

Maybe if it were a year or so ago, before the whole ghost power thing, this whole thing would put Jazz into a state of shock, considering how 'not logical' it is for someone to develop cat ears overnight. But now, she could believe anything.

Danny, on the other hand, seemed to be having a hard time.

Danny noticed her smiling again and put on a cross expression. "WHAT?"

Just like before, the smirk went away almost immediately. SHOULD she tell him? No, it would only make him self-conscious.

_mew_

Jazz looked down to find Bo pawing at her ankles.

"Then can you feed her?" Danny murmured, still staring at his reflection.

His sister sighed and went to fill the kitten's sugar bowl with kibble, then came back to yank her brother away from the mirror. "Come on," she said, her big-sister instincts starting to kick in. "Before you put yourself in a coma." Jazz tucked him neatly back in bed, then, after a little thought, put the pillow over his head. "Keep it that way," she ordered him before he could take it off, I'll tell mom and dad you're sick. If they come in to check on you, don't let them see your ears.

Danny gave her a shaky thumbs up to show that he understood. " You're not leaving me here, are you?" he anxious voice came from under the pillow.

_Ouch_… Jazz winced, glancing at the clock. Could she really give up her perfect attendance for this? He sounded so pitiful! Then, on the other hand, what would Maddie and Jack say when they find her still at home.

"Sorry Danny," she soothed, "but I don't have ghost powers, it wouldn't be very easy to stick around without anyone noticing I skipped school."

Bo slipped past her feet to jump up on the bed and curled up on the pillow above Danny. He reached his hand over to pet the kitten. Jazz smiled and turned to leave. Her little brother would be perfectly fine with his kitty.

--------------------------

Sam and Tucker set off at full sprint for Fenton Works as soon as the bell rang. Their footsteps coming in rhythmic beats, Sam's coming slightly faster. Jazz had told them everything, and they absolutely had to see this for themselves.

--------------------

The door to Danny's room burst open without warning. Bo let out a startled squeal and dug her claws into Danny's arm, making him yelp in pain and slide off the bedside for the second time that day. The teenager let out a moody growl while his kitten sulked under the bed.

Sam and Tucker stood in the doorway, looking apologetic. Their now feline-like friend stood up and brushed himself off, giving the digital clock a weary glance. "Geez, how'd you guys get here so fast, did Tucker actually run all the way here?"

Tucker pulled an offended face but decided to ignore that remark.

"So it's true…" Sam murmured, coming closer for a better look, Tucker followed.

Danny let them touch the silky black tips of his new ears with amazing tolerance, but then flicked them away when he saw the smile on Sam's face, just like the one his sister was wearing that morning. "What's the smile for?" He asked darkly.

His tone only seemed to widen the grin.

"What?" he pressed.

Sam giggled, "Do you really want to know?" she asked teasingly, guiding him over to the mirror. "Yes!" He replied, angry at her tone. Sam took a moment, "Danny, don't take this the wrong way…" She paused again, making her tone more serious. "I mean, really, don't take this the wrong way." Danny scowled. His friend continued, voicing the exact thoughts that had made Jazz smile that morning. "But something about cat ears… just… I don't know… they're kinda… cute."

Danny could see his reflection now, his cheeks blooming a rosy red. Tucker snickered him in the corner of the room with Bo in his lap, making his friend blush even harder. "Shut up Tuck." he muttered in warning. Tucker laughed even harder. Danny growled.

"Take it easy." Sam told him calmly, pulling her troubled friend back to his bed. "You've been in worse situations than this. BUT," her tone took on an even more noticeable level of seriousness. "We still need to figure this out.

"Obviously." Danny muttered, rubbing his kitty ears.

Tucker shooed Bo away and joined his friends at the bedside. The kitten hopped away to find one of her endless toys.

"Hey, we can fix this." He said encouragingly, actually deciding to be helpful this time.

"I hope." Danny sighed miserably.

"How did you guys get here so fast?"

The trio of friends looked up. Jazz stood at the doorway, looking a little impressed. "Did you RUN all the way here Tucker?"

Now Tucker was insulted, "Hey, I can run when I want to!"

Now it was Danny's turn to laugh.

"Shut it…" the techno-geek muttered.

Danny quieted down with a hiccupy giggle.

"Well," Jazz changed the subject, "you look better than this morning."

"Yeah, I guess." Danny agreed simply, leaning down to pick up Bo.

Sam crossed her legs on the bed. "So, any idea who's behind this?"

Silence.

Danny gave Bo several thoughtful strokes, then finally said, "Actually, I could list about twenty right now." Then he gasped and shivered. "Oh man…" Standing up, he changed to his ghost form. Blue eyes turned neon green, T-shirt and jeans turned to a black jumpsuit with the 'D' symbol on it, jet-black hair and cat ears turned a silvery white. "Well, this is new," Danny murmured, feeling his snowy white ears before leaping out the window.

Everyone left in the room waited casually. There was a loud thud against the wall followed by Danny phasing back through the wall to ask where the Fenton Thermos was, vigorously rubbing the back of his head.

"You really need to remember these kinds of things." Sam scolded lightly, tossing him the ghost hunting device.

A crash sounded from outside.

Danny sent an irritated glare back at the window as an obnoxious high-pitched laughter started up in the distance. Then he set off outside to finish the fight. With something to catch the ghost in, his job was done much more quickly. Soon Danny returned, Youngblood and his snippy parrot trapped in the thermos.

"Easy." The teenage halfa said smugly, placing the thermos back on his dresser.

"No need to brag." Tucker scoffed, holding up a cat toy for Bo to swipe at.

Danny automatically jerked his head in the direction of the rubber mousey.

"Danny." she warned, knowing what was going to happen next. Danny's eyes seemed to suddenly dilate. Sam stood up to hold him back.

With a startled flinch, Danny gave her a surprised look, his pupils shrinking back down to their normal size. Sam gave him a hard stare. "Maybe this is a bit more serious than we think. Are you alright?" she asked, feeling him relax under her grip.

"Yeah…" he replied shakily, realizing what he was just about to do.

Tucker placed the cat toy back on the ground as if it might explode; then looked back at Danny, who seemed to be trying to avoid looking in mouse's direction. With nothing else to do he called to Sam, "I'd better get going, are you coming?"

Sam glanced at the clock before nodding in response. "I'll see you later," She said, pushing Danny in the direction of his sister. "Tomorrow you start your training."

"Training?" the two siblings asked together.

"That's what I said. Danny's obviously going through more than just appearance makeovers. His instincts are changing as well. She directed a knowing grin in her friend's direction. "You'll have to learn how to control yourself."

Jazz blinked, "I'm not sure if that's totally necessary but, I guess it doesn't hurt to try."

Danny looked upset "Hey, don't I have any say in this?"

Sam gave her cat-like friend a comforting pat on the head, making him glower. "Believe me, we're helping you." With that, she and Tucker left, leaving Danny to stare at the door. Jazz pulled her brother back and scratched behind his kitty ears "Hey it's not that bad.

Danny slowly relaxed and leaned on his sister, making a low rumbling sound. "I love you…" he murmured. Was he purring? Jazz patted him on the head thoughtfully.

Training, maybe Sam had a point.

--------------------------------

Uneventful, I know. I promise the next chapter will have lot more humor in it.

If anyone has an idea of what to call this chapter, feel free to tell me.

GladiatorQueen


	7. Training, the actual chapter

Okay, I made a BIG mistake, if you already read this chapter, you might have noticed it was a bit short, I HAVE AN EXPLANATION!!! I uploaded the wrong document when I was putting this chapter up. Trust me, I'm not THAT lazy to write a chapter that short. So... on with the show?

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"SAM, NO." Danny said firmly.

"Yes Danny." His friend argued lightly, knowing she would win this argument anyway in the end, kitty boy over there didn't have a choice.

Danny crossed his legs on the bedroom floor in a stubborn fashion. "It's inhumane and cruel!"

"It only seems that way when you say it with that attitude." She shot back coolly.

Tucker watched from the corner of the room with Bo seated next to him, both soaking in every detail of the argument before them in delighted amusement.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE AGAINST THESE KINDS OF THINGS!" Danny pointed to the object in Sam's hand.

It was nothing other than the "Spray spray," a cheap training device for disciplining cats with cute little paw print designs dancing around the rounded edges.

Or, in Danny's case, the Spray Bottle of Doom.

"It's completely harmless." Sam insisted. "Watch, Tucker, hold up the mousey."

Tucker scooted closer to them and let the rubber toy hang by its tail.

Danny gave it an enthralled look and started to twitch, willing himself not to attack.

Sam noticed her friend's pupils expand like they had the night before. This was her note to take aim.

The part-cat teenager began to crouch.

_mmmmmmrrrrrrrrrr__…………._

He pounced. Cold droplets of water showered his head in reply.

_MEW!_

Danny cried out with a startled squeal and scrambled back, looking dramatically hurt.

"Come on, it's not that bad." Sam scolded.

Danny sniffed, turning away. "Animal abuser." he mumbled.

His gothic friend clicked her tongue, "Really Danny, can't you at least try?"

"No."

Sam sighed, "Fine, let's try something else then."

"I don't wanna."

"It involves going outside."

Danny stiffly looked over his shoulder. Going outside did sound nice, he'd been stuck in his room for quite a few days with this "I'm so sick" act to keep Maddie and Jack away.

"No Spray spray?"he asked.

"No Spray spray." Sam assured him.

"Fine, what is it?"

Sam pulled a hat out from her bag, and, before Danny could run off, stuck it on his head and tightened the long earflaps over the sides of his face. Her friend squirmed uncomfortably. "Don't worry, it's only to hide your ears."

Danny grumbled to himself and straightened the ridiculous-looking hat into a more comfortable position. "You do realize it's the middle of May, right?"

Sam started to drag him toward the door, "You wanna go outside or not?"

"YES!"

"Then let's go!"

It was when the door slammed shut behind them that Tucker realized that he had been forgotten. "Hey!" he grabbed his backpack and started after them, but not before Bo phased out of it and tumbled to the ground.

Tucker stopped to give the cat a surprised look. She sneezed in return, blinking her watery blue eyes in an innocent stare. The techno-geek cocked an eyebrow and left. Left behind in Danny's bedroom, Bo gave a small cough and licked a mushy flake of lined paper away from her whiskers.

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Fenton Works, ten minutes later…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jazz rested on the living room chair, lost in the pages of a chemistry book when the trio of friends returned. She looked up as the front door opened. Immediately her previous expression changed to a worried one. "What happened?"

Sure enough, something had happened. Danny and Sam came in together, Danny kind of leaning on his friend as if he was depressed, the hat with earflaps still hugging his face. Sam kept her arm around his shoulders to comfort him while Tucker stayed off to the side, looking concerned.

As Sam began to take the hat off of Danny as Jazz came over.

"We ran across some roadkill." Tucker explained in a hushed tone.

Jazz still looked curious until Sam noticed and mouthed the word 'cat'. Then the older Fenton nodded in understanding. "Oh, Danny…" she crooned to her brother sympathetically, giving him a sisterly hug.

Danny gave a soft whine, looking like he was struggling to hold back tears.

Sam's gaze flicked toward the clock and back at her forlorn friend. "It's getting late… will you be okay Danny?"

Jazz began to lead her brother to the staircase. "You guys go, I'll take care of him.

Danny's silky kitty ears flopped to the sides of his face as he reluctantly allowed Jazz to herd him back to his bedroom. Tucker and Sam sent a troubled stare after them before leaving.

"He's been a bit off since the cat thing, hasn't he?"

"Yeah…"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

When Jazz and Danny entered his room, Danny sulked over to his bed to curl up next to Bo. His sister stayed back and closed the door behind her.

At first, the teenage halfa stayed still, holding his kitten close. But when it became apparent that Jazz wasn't leaving, he looked up sullenly. "Did you want something?" his voice was hollow and grief-stricken.

Jazz sighed, "Do you want to talk about it?" Danny growled quietly, not in an aggressive way, but enough to show that he needed someone to be with him.

Jazz sat beside the halfa and gathered him up in a warm hug. Danny let himself soak in the comfort, and, to his sister's surprise, a muffled sob escaped the part cat teenager.

"Shh... it's okay." Jazz whispered, stroking his long kitty ears. At the same time a thought occurred to her, "Is seeing a dead cat that stressful? Then again, he is kind of a cat now, maybe seeing roadkill is like spotting some lifeless, mangled person in the side of the street."

Danny, not being one to cry often, pulled away after a few seconds and wiped his eyes, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry." he muttered, lifting Bo back into his lap.

"Was it that bad?"

Danny bit his lower lip and looked like he was going to break down again, but seemed to get a hold of himself enough to nod silently. "It was just there… so helpless, laying in the middle of the road waiting for someone to pick it up… and… and more cars came and the same thing happened, it kept getting ran over again and again while the street gets stained with this sickening red…"

Jazz could see her brother was upsetting himself even more. "That's enough Danny." she stopped him using a gentle, mother-like tone. "You don't need to worry about it. Everyone sees death sometime in their life, but why should that stop you from moving on?" Jazz tousled his hair, "It's over now, you didn't even know the cat, so don't let it bother you, alright?"

Danny sniffled and nodded, giving her a hoarse purr.

Jazz smiled, "Good, now will you be alright?"

He nodded again.

"That's what I like to hear, now, before I go, don't forget to shave sometime tonight, kay?" She pointed to the two spots above the corners of his mouth before going to the door. "I'll come back to check on you later."

Bo pawed at her holder's wrists.

_MEW?_

Danny felt the spots on his Jazz had pointed out. "I don't shave yet…" he murmured to himself, looking in the mirror. Suddenly his eyes widened, and this time he hadn't spotted a cat toy. "Oh man… I'm growing whiskers…"

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Okay, so the first half was humorous, I could imagine Danny would have a problem about being trained with Spray spay.

Second half… bleh… I thought Danny should be a little more emotional, being a cat and all. Hopefully that wasn't too sad for anyone… Sorry if it was. That's probably the most depressing thing that will happen in the entire story.

In other news, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!


	8. Fleas!

Here's chapter 8, and this time, I did make sure it's the right one. )

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The bell's ring chimed out onto campus and the student's of Casper high began to file into the school for their next class. Tucker and Sam walked alone to P.E., Danny still at home with his feline issue.

A dark ringtone started up and the two friends came to an abrupt halt. Tucker gave Sam an accusing look as she swerved around to a more hidden and unoccupied area of the hallway.

"Aren't you supposed to keep your phone off during school hours?"

"Shush."

Sam took the call, holding the phone between her head and the wall to keep it hidden. (Though this looked a bit awkward, the action served its purpose.)

A shy voice came from the other end; it took a moment for Sam to realize it was Danny.

"Danny! Why are you calling? Is everything you alright?"

Tucker crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Lovebirds…" he muttered.

Sam decided to ignore that, instead listening to Danny's reply.

"Yeah, I'm fine… um… Sam?"

"Yeah?"

A low scraping sounded somewhere in the background "Right, um… I was wondering… could you maybe do me a favor?"

"It matters… what would it be?" From his embarrassed tone, she already could tell this 'favor' was probably going to be something out of the ordinary.

Danny's voice came down to a whisper. "I need you to pick up like, four boxes of flea medicine after school and bring it over."

"WHAT?"

"Don't…tell…Jazz."

Sam couldn't help but laugh, but she did try to hide it afterward with a few dry coughs. Alas, Danny seemed to catch on to what she was doing.

"It's not funny!"

"I never said it was." now she didn't even try to conceal the clear amusement in her voice this time.

The second bell rang, and Tucker had left Sam a good while ago to avoid getting in trouble.

"Look, I have to go, you want me to get a flea collar for Bo too?"

Danny's voice grumbled moodily from the other end. "That would be nice…"

"Right, I'll see ya."

"Bye…"

--------------------------------

Back at Fenton Works, Danny hung up the kitchen phone, lashing his newly grown tail at the humiliation of his flea problem.

His tail was long, black, silky, and moved through the air with that delicate posture. Danny thought it might be the most beautiful thing in the world. He caught it and stroked the soft fur. Of course, the tail was something recent that neither Jazz nor his friends knew about.

The tail… it was so pretty.

He flicked it side to side before heading over to the couch. Jack and Maddie were gone today, and Danny wanted to get all he could out of his free time around the house.

Free to go where he wanted, and free to do what he wanted.

The feline teenager purred as he returned to the Aristocats special on Animal Planet, humming along to 'everybody wants to be a cat.'

Danny cringed suddenly with a hiss and smacked a hand across his arm. "Darn fleas…"

_MEW? _Bo asked, jumping up on the couch with him.

Danny gave her a small glance and began nibbling furiously at his wrists where another one of the tiny bugs had attacked.

_MEW! _

"What is it Bo?"

The kitten hopped over to the coffee table, walking in a little circle around the bright red can that rested there before settling down next to it. Danny laughed and picked it up.

_Whipped cream._

"What Jazz doesn't know won't hurt her." He said slyly, screwing the cap off and allowing Bo to lick the foamy cream directly from the nozzle.

Bo kneaded her paws on the table in delight. _Mrrrrrrow_

"Good kitty." Danny gave the cat a scratch behind the ears and dipped his head back to take his own dose of whipped cream. (Completely ignoring the fact that kitten spit contaminated the very spot where he was putting his lips.)

He looked back at the screen, using his hands in a swiping motion behind his ear to claw some crowding fleas away while he murmured thoughtfully, "Dude, why are the cats changing colors?"

_Everybody wants to be a cat!_

Right…

Danny chuckled to himself and settled back down to twirl his tail in a small loop, saying to no one in particular, "I am way too old for this."

Still, Danny and Bo spent most of their afternoon watching the movie, and then, like most kitties do, fell asleep on the couch.

-------------------------------------------------

Around three o'clock, Bo awoke from her warm spot on Danny's chest and immediately sent an alarmed glance at the door. Leaping up, she scampered over to nudge him awake.

_Mew, MEW!_

Danny's eyes slowly flickered open. "Wha?"

_Mrrrrow_

Suddenly the teenager's cat ears pricked up as he too, picked up the sound of someone coming inside. Both of them sent a terrified stare in direction of the front of the house, afraid to be discovered by Maddie or Jack.

Instead, Jazz came in casually and shut the door behind her. "Hey Danny."

Both cat friends relaxed at her voice and Danny slipped the half-empty can of whipped cream under the couch before it was noticed.

"Hey Jazz." He greeted his sister with a friendly purr and got up to inspect the inviting sound of grocery bags that came with her. "Whad'ja get?" he stuck his nose in one of the bags on the table and inhaled deeply.

"Danny!"

Danny jumped away, "Didn't do it!" he announced automatically.

Jazz huffed, "No, I mean Danny, where did the tail come from?" she nabbed her brother's newest cat-like edition, making him jerk it away.

"I…grew it?... Overnight?"

Jazz shrugged at the wild theory, "Makes enough sense." She suddenly gave her brother and awkward look as he twisted his head around to lick vigorously at his shoulder. "Er… anyway, Sam said to give you this."

Danny's pupils dilated curiously as his sister held out a small box, inching forward cautiously until he was in good reach of it. With a few good sniffs and pokes, he grabbed it and gave his sister a grateful hug before darting upstairs to his room.

Jazz's voice echoed through the hallway after him. "You're welcome!"

Danny took a mighty leap and landed on his bed, still bouncing slightly from the impact as he hurriedly ripped the box open and removed its contents.

FLEA MEDICINE!

He made a small, happy whimper-like sound and rubbed the jell-like substance all over himself. "Sweet relief!" Danny slid down on the carpet and rolled on his back in a cat-like manner, purring his heart out.

Sweet relief indeed.

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The cold metallic walls of the air vents did nothing to hold the two ghosts in as they used their intangibility skills to phase right through the passage. The younger of the two sped up ahead, a fleshless parrot perched on his shoulder.

"You know, you would have thought that in a ghost hunter's home, they would have some type of ghost shield up." the kid observed rudely, swiping some green hair out of his face.

The bony parrot took a few hops around, observing their surroundings. Then, in that somehow dignified voice the bird seemed to possess, he answered the snobby child. "Well, let's not forget, this IS the Fentons we're talking about."

The kid giggled at this, despite the dirty looks he received from his older ghost companion trailing behind.

"You know I don't like that kind of talk." he snapped, straightening his huge glasses as if that helped prove his point.

"You don't like ANYTHING fun Poindexter." Youngblood whined.

"I know a bully when I see one, and YOU aren't too friendly yourself."

"Lighten up will you? I thought you were after the Fenton kid for stealing your cat, not me."

Poindexter came to a halt, making Youngblood snort impatiently, "Now what?"

"This was your idea Youngblood, and you're probably just doing this because you're mad at the halfa for ruining your little gas pump scheme the other day. It's my job to care for the deceased animals in the ghost zone's shelter. Molly, or more recently, Bo, seems to be doing perfectly fine. And if she weren't a werecat, the halfa could very well keep her. It wouldn't hurt to have one of our animals adopted now and then."

Youngblood groaned dramatically, "You give more lectures than grown-ups do, can't you make up your mind? You just said the "Halfa" was a bully like, an hour ago."

"He is, but Mol- er I mean, Bo, doesn't seem to be having a problem."

"You're too soft Poindexter, go back to your old fashioned high school, caring for animals isn't your thing."

Poindexter drifted ahead to the soft light ahead of them, eyeing Youngblood's withered parrot critically before moving on. "And I see that animal care isn't your top priority either."

The parrot pecked at Youngblood's ear, "You know, it wouldn't hurt for you to feed me now and again."

"Oh, so now EVERYBODY gangs up on the little one!" Youngblood wailed.

Poindexter clamped his hands over the kid's jaw before he could scream again. "Will you shush up? You'll wake up the halfa!"

Youngblood pushed the hand away from his mouth and peered excitedly though the barred opening, there he was.

The obnoxious kid giggled at the sight. It was funny enough when he saw the teenager with cat ears, but the tail was priceless.

The teenage boy lay curled up on top of his bed covers, breathing slowly and peacefully. A long, black tail curled around him, reaching to the tip of his nose. Pressed next to his cheek was the werecat, Bo. The moon set a soft silver outline against them both.

Poindexter whispered hurriedly, "Come on!" The two ghosts floated down into the room below. Youngblood made a grab for the kitten, only to have his hands hastily smacked away by Poindexter. "I'll do it." He mouthed, bending forward.

As they got closer, a shiver seemed to pass though Danny. He curled up more tightly, growling gently in his sleep. Bo cooed softly and scooted closer to her companion, whose breath seemed to have turned a misty white.

Poindexter carefully lifted the kitten by the scruff and pulled her away. Big mistake. The moment Bo left the comforting warmth of Danny's bed, she stirred and cried out pitifully.

Danny's eyes shot open. Poindexter and Youngblood watched in alarm as the feline teenager stared in surprise at the intruders.

Then he saw Bo.

Suddenly Danny arched his back, puffing up his tail threateningly and thrashing it threateningly while he drew his lips back in an angry snarl "GET AWAY FROM MY CAT!"

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I was shooting to make it interesting, hopefully that's how it turned out.

If Danny seems a little OOC, it's supposed to be that way, you know, cat stuff, I thought it might be fun to mess with his personality a bit.

Special thanks to Ghostkidc, who thought up the name for chapter 6, now known as Kitty Phantom.

Gladiatorqueen


	9. One question answered

"Poindexter, let's go!" Youngblood shoved his way past his comrade, not waiting to see if he had followed. The other ghost narrowed his eyes after, muttering moodily. "Coward…"

No sooner after he said that, a great monster of feline teenage terror was upon him.

Danny pinned Poindexter to the ground, face to face. The werecat's teeth bared. From this angle the pale moonlight outlined the noticeably sharper edges of his fangs.

"I SAID, DROP THE CAT!" he repeated viciously.

Poindexter squinted defensively and held the kitten in between them, partially to block out particles of spit that Danny's angry hisses were blowing in his face.

The halfa wasted no time in snatching his precious bundle back.

"Bo…"he crossed his legs on the floor while giving her a affectionate snuggle. The kitten mewed back and gave him a nudge with her warm nose

Poindexter cocked an eyebrow and watched the two. Finally, he cleared his throat, making Danny realize he was still there. Immediately he stood up with a dark expression about his face.

"Are you going to try that again or do I have to give you something painful to think about?"

Poindexter stood up, brushing himself off hastily. "Go ahead! But I can't help you then."

Danny bristled, some killer instinct deep inside began to burn; the ghost had some nerve to insult him like that.

"ARE YOU SAYING I'M MENTALLY CHALLENENGED IN SOME WAY!"

Poindexter put up his hands in defense. "I didn't say anything of the sort, maybe if you would stop jumping to conclusions I could explain."

The angered werecat drew his lips back. Causing Poindexter to add in quickly, "Meaning I know why you're turning into a cat."

Danny stopped, his hackles fell back and his oversized ears swiveled downward.

"Spit it out, I'm listening."

"Tut tut, moody today are we?

_"Growl__"_

"Fine, I'll make a long story short. A few weeks after you left me in the ghost zone, people started to forget we ever met. I lost my popularity, people were bullying me again, and I left soon after to find a place where I was appreciated. That's where I got a job at the ghost zone's animal shelter. You see, even in the afterlife ghosts have ghost animals as pets and animal shelters exist for those who don't have an owner. But, like people, after an animal dies, it possesses some powers or mutations as a ghost. That's what Molly, or as you say Bo, is, she's a werecat."

Danny slowly lowered his head to the floor like a sleeping dog and wrapped his handsome black tail around him, digesting all the information Poindexter had just thrown at him. After some sniffles and agitated fidgeting, he finally asked, "Sooo… why am I a cat?

"Well, that's simple. The werecat trait spreads just like the werewolf, through saliva. The most common case is if you're bit by one."

Danny cast an airy glance toward the ceiling, guiltily recalling the can of whipped cream he had shared with his cat some hours earlier, and some rebellious nips he had received from her in the past week.

Poindexter's voice cut clean through his thoughts. "I have the cure."

Danny pricked up his ears, "Where?"

"At the shelter, I can't give it to you yet."

"Why not?"

"I was told not to, you have to do something first."

"Oh…" The werecat's ears tilted back again. "I could have guessed there was a string attached. What do you want? It matters what it is, I'm not going to work at an animal shelter for all eternity or anything."

Poindexter began digging in his pocket. "Of course you're not; I want you to find something."

Danny's pupils narrowed into thin slits and dilated again curiously as the ghost grew out a thin silver key.

Poindexter continued, "Now, I don't know how enhanced you senses are yet, but they're only going to get better as you continue to transform into a cat-like being. The shelter and I want you to find someone using those senses, kind of like a police officer uses a dog to sniff out drugs and explosives."

Danny raised his head excitedly, "I have a super enhanced senses?" He took an enormous snuff of the air and fell into a coughing fit.

Poindexter smirked in amusement, "Not quite yet, but they'll start to kick in. In fact they probably have started. Here," he took Danny's hand and pressed the key into his open palm. "try this, the scent of the person we're looking for is on here."

The teenage werecat took a few good sniffs of the key. His tail flagged in concentration as he tried to distinguish the jumble of smells he had just taken in.

"It… it smells like metal, just metal… and…" He sniffed it again, "I can't tell, but there's something else there."

Poindexter gave a disappointed sigh. "Close enough, you'll probably recognize it over some time. But in the meanwhile, I need to go. I'm due to clean out the stables by morning."

Danny perked up, "What? You're leaving? You can't do that. Where do I start searching? How can I find you? WHY are you looking for someone?

Poindexter gave the clock an impatient glance and explained quickly, "Someone's been stealing animals from the shelter, including Bo. We need to find them and put a stop to it. You're the only person who has the ability to track them." he handed Danny a card. "This has the shelter's address on it, if you find the person, tell us. After we have the criminal we'll reward you with the antidote. Kudos!"

"NO, WAIT!"

Too late. Poindexter had vanished into thin air like smoke, destined to attend some untidy horse stables, leaving Danny with a quest and one sleepy werekitten.

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_The following day…_

"Sam, you're smart, what kind of people steal animals?"

"Danny, there's a huge range of answers for that question."

"Well, pick one then."

"Danny, you can't solve your problems by picking random solutions."

Danny gave an exasperated sigh and flopped down on his bed.

In the other corner of his bedroom, Jazz sat cross-legged on the carpet next to Tucker, who hunched over his sleek (and very expensive looking) laptop. And Sam had stolen Danny's rolling lab chair, along with his work desk.

All of them mused silently about the problem at hand.

How do you find a criminal whose stealing animals from a shelter in the ghost zone?

Danny shivered suddenly and swiveled his ears upward. Sam jumped slightly as his silky tail brushed her arm.

"What is it?"

As if to answer her question, a furious scrabbling sounded outside the window, followed by a small wet nose and two, large blue kitten eyes poking their way over the ledge outside.

A few seconds later, Bo had tumbled intangibly through the glass and skidded gently to the floor. Her tiny jaws parted slightly to reveal that she was carrying something. She hopped up on the bed and dropped it proudly into Danny's open hands.

_MEW!_

Danny's long whiskers twitched in disgust at the slobbery mess in his palm. It looked suspiciously like some small insect that could have been alive at one point, possibly deformed.

"Augh, Bo!"

He shook his hand fretfully, causing the thing to fall on the carpet. Bo purred excitedly and darted after to retrieve it. She then dragged it under the bed to finish it off.

Sam observed with a sympathetic cringe. "I pity whatever poor animal your kitten just slaughtered Danny."

Danny gave a low and guilty whine. "Come on Sam, she's a cat."

"You can watch her more carefully than you have lately, what if your parents find her?"

Danny suddenly decided it was an excellent time to change the subject. "Hey Tucker, did you find anything?"

The techno- geek peered quickly over the rim of his laptop screen and returned to whatever he was doing. His voice was riddled with concentration, "Not yet."

Jazz leaned casually to the side and looked over the oblivious Tucker's shoulder.

"I wouldn't rely on that that Danny; he's playing downloaded games on his desktop."

Tucker pulled a surprised face and glared at Jazz, snapping his laptop shut. "Hey!"

One of Danny's feline ears flicker irritably, "Tucker, you're supposed to be helping!"

Tucker opened his laptop again and focused on the screen again, "I was helping."

Danny groaned and flagged his tail dejectedly. "You WERE helping."

Sam spun absently around in Danny's chair. "Lighten up you two, there has to be some hint, or clue… or …something!" She scanned over the desk surface, opening drawers and frowning in concentration.

"Forget it Sam, I alrea-"

"Hey Danny, what's this?"

"What?"

"This."

Danny cocked his head curiously as Sam held up a small contraption; suddenly a smile broke across his face.

"Oh, I remember this, here let me see it."

He took the thing, it was made up of little pink stones that had been glued together.

"I used to make these little rockets out those rocks we would to dig up in the garden together.

Sam grinned as she too, recalled the sweet memory. "I remember those rocks, it wasn't too long ago either. Why did you stop making the rockets? They're cute"

Danny twiddled the rocket between his fingers thoughtfully. "I guess it was after Vlad figured out how to make a tazer gun out of the same type of stone… I kinda became a little wary of them afterward." he paused and grimaced, "Bad encounters."

Jazz snorted crossly from her corner of the room. "Leave it to Vlad to destroy such a nice memory. I swear that man must have no heart at all."

Danny's ears lowered distastefully in agreement only seconds later they perked up excitedly. "Wait, Jazz! That's it!"

"What's it?"

He dismissed the question and dug into his pocket. In a flurry of spare change and who knows what else, Danny revealed the key Poindexter had given him. Without hesitation, he sniffed it. And a few seconds later sniffed it again. Everyone waited silently as he thoroughly gave the key an examination.

Finally and without warning he exclaimed, "It smells like rubber! The rubber from Vlad's gloves!"

--------------------------------------------

Unnoticed under the depths of Danny's bed, Bo gnawed in deep concentration. Her tiny kitten tail curled in delight as her mighty jaws worked away at the unfortunate insect-like creature trapped in her wicked claws.

It gave a mighty jerk. Bo felt the desperate movement of her prey and tightened her grip with strong young kitten teeth. Advanced sensors on the creature picked up the rash action of its attacker. Suddenly it came to life.

Clear red lens worked like eyes, scanning its surroundings. From under metallic wings it fluttered determinedly to escape, biting at the same time with miniature razors into the werekitten's paw. Bo mewled in pain and surprise, releasing her prey.

Free and unchallenged, the creature flew away to observe the group of excited teenagers outside the whereabouts under the bed.

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_Vlad Master's laboratory, Wisconsin_

Long white fangs shone brightly in the evil smirk on Plasmius's face as he watched the satisfactory work of his mechanical insect spy through a wide screen on wall.

So, the kids were finally on to him…

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**I am so**** sorry about this late update, apparently my laptop de****cided to curl up and die. R****epairs had to be made and writing ****was out of the question for some time. ****All**** you**** good people ****who waited**** for the next chapter****, thanks for sticking with me on this.**

**And anyone who likes to vote on stuff, I've got a poll on my profile now (Danny Phantom related of course) ****It**** has to do with possible future ****fanfics****. I won't bore those of you who aren't interested so all of the information is at the top of my page. Please, you're opinion is useful. **

**T****hanks to those of you who have voted already!**

_**HAPPY HOLIDAYS**_


	10. Ouchies

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Fenton Works, Danny's Room_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"So, I don't think there really needs to be a plan simpler than this."

Danny recited the scheme again to the so-called "Ghost Getters" as he forced a fourth and final thermos into Sam's purple spider backpack.

"So we'll be travelling for a bit, it won't be that bad. Jazz can swipe the specter speeder and we'll meet her out back. It's about an hour drive over to Wisconsin by air. We pop in, see if Vlad really is stealing animals, and if he is…"

He snickered mischievously while he pulled the thermos out of Sam's bag again.

"I've always wanted to see the fruitloop sucked into one of these."

Sam didn't seem so confident as her friend.

I don't know Danny, whenever we fight Vlad he always seems to be one step ahead of us. How do you know he wasn't planning for us to come?"

Danny was unmoved by her cautious words. "Come on Sam, it's not like he's spying on us or anything. Mom and Dad ridded the house of his cameras months ago, convinced they were 'the doing of some ghostly evil.'" He stopped and shrugged thoughtfully, "In a way they were right I guess. The point is, there's no way Vlad can know what we're doing."

Sam took the thermos from him and put it back into her bag.

"I'm serious Danny, think about it. A week ago this kitten shows up with a mysterious note in her collar, conveniently placed in a tree near you and now you're some part ghost part cat human hybrid. Does ANY of that say "evil plot" to you?

Danny flagged his tail defensively.

"I think you're taking this too seriously, I mean, there's no harm in just checking in on Vlad is there?"

"I guess not bu-"

"Exactly, so there's nothing to worry about."

Tucker piped up desperately from his seat in Danny's rolling chair, Bo prowling in small circles around his ankles like a hungry shark.

"Sorry to interrupt your little argument, but um… could someone feed the cat before she turns me into a werecat too?"

Danny quickly arose to aid his friend.

"Bad kitty… OW! Did you see that? Tell me you saw that. She bit my finger! No wonder I've grown a cat ears and whiskers over night! Oh Bo, you naughty little you…"

He went on fussing over the hungry kitten like an overprotective parent as he brought her over to the food bowl. By the time they had gotten there Bo had satisfied herself by suckling determinedly and stubbornly on his thumb.

Danny pried her off painfully, licking his sore finger and pouring kibble with the other hand.

"Hey Jazz."

"Yeah?"

"Were you feeding Bo recently?"

"No, why?"

"There's a hole in the kibble bag."

"Didn't do it."

Danny sniffed the hole curiously. A pleasant scent came from the paper's torn edges in waves. It wasn't kibble… it was… Danny shuddered in an unknown anticipation and placed the bag down. He took note to figure out what that smell was coming from later.

"We should go before it starts to get dark."

Everyone stood; ready to put their plan into action. Danny took Sam's bag in one neat, snakelike movement of his tail. He shuffled its contents around with his nose for a brief moment before extracting a package of Band-Aids.

"Sam, what's this?"

"I just thought, you know, in case something happened…"

"Sam, we're just going to Wisconsin, give it a rest!"

She took the package back sheepishly, "I just don't want you to get hurt Danny."

Danny's pointed ears pulled modestly back. He gave her a small, caring smile and whipped back around to the doorway.

"Still… its fine."

What Danny didn't notice was Sam sneaking around his keen tail and slipping the package back into the backpack, along with a thick, cottony roll of gauze.

The four teens stole their way quietly down the stairway, years of snooping around the house as kids were beginning to pay off. Luckily, it turned out that Jack and Maddie were in the lab again.

In fact they had been spending a worrisome amount of time down there lately…

After skipping over a particularly squeaky step, Danny halted and snapped his tail up for silence. Something sweet had brushed the rim of his senses.

_The smell from the kibble bag!_

Instinct sent a tingling message sown Danny's spine that made his hackles rise. The teenage werecat's large ears twitched expertly to and fro, seeking the tiny echo that bounced off the house's walls.

A faint:

Scratch, scratch, step, scratch

Danny stood a little taller as a dangerous growl came from deep in his throat.

Jazz spoke up worriedly.

"Danny?"

"I have to."

"You have to what?"

"Kill…"

"WHAT? DANNY, NO!"

Too late, before he could be stopped her little brother bolted back up the stairs with his nose to the ground. All while murmuring feverishly under his breath,

"Sniff, hunt, prey, kill…"

Danny stopped at the doorway to Jazz's room and helped himself inside. His sharpening senses picking up the lively fluttering of a tiny heartbeat in the closet.

I no time he launched himself in the very place, two well placed hands came down heavily on the carpet floor, the rest of Danny flooring with a thud only moments later.

A startled squeak and a tiny scuttle told him he had missed. No sooner, Danny saw the sleek grey body of a mouse streak past out of the corner of his eye.

With an outraged yowl, two blaring bands of light hovered around the werecat and separated, changing his fur to a clean, snowy white and his slitted eyes to neon green.

Thrashing his tail angrily, Danny took to the air and jetted after the prey.

He flashed past his friends and sister like a homicidal maniac.

"KILL KILL KILL!"

The white werecat landed ungracefully on the slippery kitchen floor.

He wasn't down for long. In the raw squeal of nails against tile, Danny came back up running.

The mouse, half scared out of its life from the feline teenager, made for a welcoming crack in the wall with its attacker close behind…

right next to the basement doorway.

BAM!

Danny's face came in painful contact with the wall above the place in which his furry prey had taken cover.

_Hissssss_

A gloved hand shot forward into the hole.

"Danny!"

The rest of the gang had regained their senses. Sam gripped her friend firmly by the shirt collar and yanked him away like a disobedient dog. He came down flat on his back with a sputtering gag.

Slowly the glowing halo hummed back to life around Danny, changing him back to a "normal" part cat teenager.

He brought a hand up to his throat and felt it gingerly.

"Good grief Sam," he whispered hoarsely, "I thought you didn't want me to get hurt."

She helped him up good-naturedly, "You had that one coming, I told you to stick with obedience training."

"That has n-"

"Hey, who's up there!"

The group of teenagers went stiff with alarm as the booming voice of Jack Fenton came up from the basement door.

Jazz took the lead, "He's coming, run!"

Everyone dashed for the front door.

The footsteps were getting closer, everyone was almost out of the house, Tucker kept the door open for the winded Danny to cross and… There! The door came shut with a slam.

Suddenly Danny raised his head in a pained yowl. Sam gripped her shivering friend by the shoulders and tried to quiet him.

"Stop screaming! What's wrong with you?"

"My tail!"

"Well, what about it?"

"GET THE DOOR OFF MAH TAIL!"

Jack Fenton did the liberty of doing just that.

There was a relieved whimper from Danny, and then a sudden, awkward silence.

Four terrified teens stared wide eyed at the adult newcomer to their group. Like in most situations, he held some type of new ghost hunting weapon in one hand.

Danny swallowed uncomfortably while his tail gave a nervous twitch.

His dad eyed it as if it were some sort of mutation that had grown on his son in the past week.

Actually, that's exactly what it was.

Jazz leaned over ever so slightly to whisper into her brother's pointed ear.

"Danny, move it. NOW."

He didn't need any second bidding. In the next moment, the "Ghost Getters" Where sprinting down the block.

Tucker called up from behind his part feline friend.

"Where are we going?"

Danny's tail puffed up furiously as it trailed behind in the wind.

"Were going to make that fruitloop hurt, that's where we're going!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So… clumsy little Danny took bit of a beating.

Hence the title of this chapter. )

Will things get easier for our feline friend?

Well, I'll decide in the next chapter. (sisister lol-ing)

Oh, and this is really old. But way back in chapter three, when I mentioned the full summary of this story being in my profile and stuff, and if you looked for it you'll know I accidently deleted it. About that, I just wanted to put a notice somewhere that I removed the excuse saying that I accidently deleted it.

The extra paragraph was clotting up my profile.

Hopefully that made sense.

Thanks for reading!


	11. Any title here could spoil

A soft hush hung heavy in the dark alley by the Fenton's household. Sturdy little paws marched along on its gritty floor. Bo twitched her kitten whiskers in a serious manner and scanned her surroundings. A Werecat needs to be vigilant when patrolling her territory.

She raised her head and inhaled deeply.

_Garbage… __and __fudge_

No new smells, everything seemed calm now.

Bo planted her rear end down and faced the opposite wall of the alley, where the walls rose up to a dead end. Slowly her world began to sink into a shade of rich gold. Through watery blue eyes, she watched her small feline shadow stretch gradually across the ground.

Even a werekitten didn't need to turn around to know that the sun was beginning to set.

Bo should be heading inside by now.

Was it safe to go inside?

What about the loud noises earlier and the giant metal craft that climbed out of the ground and sped off into the sky?

Suddenly an uneasy discomfort crept over the kitten. With incredible ease, Bo literally defied the laws of nature and ran up the wall. She then disappeared through the all-too familiar purple curtains of Danny's room.

_Mew?_

Why wasn't daddy waiting there? The big skinny werecat with the shaggy black fur on his head that sometimes turned white.

_Daddeeeee_

She called again and hopped up onto Danny's rolling chair for a clue of some sort.

Nothing, any scent there was stale.

Bo scrabbled her way back down to the floor with her little fox-like ears down in disappointment.

No, wait… what was that?

The werekitten's eyes slitted in concentration.

The thing scuttled across the carpet, it made a chirping sound, it has antennas that twitch around a lot… It must be food!

Bo got into a hunter's crouch and slid easily forward. In a swift form, she caught the insect between jutting claws and munched away, her furry tail wagging happily. Her skills would have put Danny to shame.

The cockroach crunched easily between Bo's pearly little teeth. She was so concentrated on what she was doing that she failed to notice the large figure that cast a shadow over her from behind.

She pricked up her ears in alarm. Suddenly huge cat-like hands grasped her by the scruff and wrapped her in a cape of velvet. Bo spat in surprise before clawing viciously at the fabric.

_Hisssssss_

The hand pulled her back by the scruff again, making the kitten whimper and cower in midair.

A full grown werecat stared back at her. Glowing red eyes narrowed dangerously. He grinned, vampire-like fangs shone in a perfect white. He stood on two legs like a human, wore clothes like a human, but looked like an overgrown cat with bushy dark tabby fur and velvet cape.

But most noticeable of all, this particular werecat had a hairdo that must have required a **LOT** of hair gel.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_In the skies of Amity Park…_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Danny leaned his head back in the passenger seat of the Specter Speeder. Jazz sat at the wheel next to him with Tucker and Sam in the back seats.

The teenage werecat cradled his tail delicately, suffering from a new pain.

"Jazz, I swear, if you ever try some crazy stunt like that again…"

Danny's throbbing tail shuddered against the palms of his hands.

Jazz smiled despite of herself. She eased the wheel a bit to the left, "I already said I was sorry, it's not like I meant to step on your tail. But you have to admit, it did create a great diversion for Tucker to grab the Specter Speeder."

Danny whined and gave his tail several long strokes with his tongue. "It huuuurts… I bet you broke it!"

His sister made a pouting face in mock sympathy. "Oh, you poor baby, should I take you to the vet?"

He glowered and let the subject drop.

Jazz tightened her grip on the wheel and pulled back slowly. The specter speeder made a smooth curve in the air.

Without warning they hit some violent turbulence.

_Or so it was assumed…_

A deep thud hammered the roof, forcing Jazz to slam on the brakes.

Everyone looked upward in surprise. Danny breathed a puff of blue mist.

"Gosh Jazz, you're even a terrible driver when there's no traffic."

Before she could reply, the werecat went through his "going ghost" ritual and flew outside to see what the trouble was.

He phased back in shortly after with his arms crossed, showing off his usual teen attitude.

"Well, there's nothing up there and I have no idea what just hit us, but I'm just hoping it was the box ghost."

Jazz gave him an extremely impatient look, "You're hilarious."

Danny smiled smugly.

"Well, I try."

His cat-like ears shot up, quivering slightly. It was enough to wipe the smirk off of his face.

"Hey… wait, do you guys hear a cat?"

The specter speeder shifted again in midair, making Danny take a few staggering steps sideways. Suddenly he winced, "What the heck?"

The teenage werecat ran a hand around the back of his shirt collar with a pained hiss. He narrowed his eyes worriedly and stopped feeling his neck for a second. He tugged his hand away.

A dart.

Small, needle-like, and clear.

Danny's tail gave an agitated twitch as he investigated closer.

It was a dart alright, one of those tiny ones that can be shot and used to tranquilize animals.

Most alarming of all, the syringe was empty.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_In the skies of Wisconsin, one hour later…_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

A newborn kitten without its mother is a pitiful thing.

But the kidnapped soul of one that has already passed away is just as miserable.

Bo had cried her little throat hoarse, but still, nobody came.

It was just her and that terrible werecat, keeping her in that dark box. That oh, so dark box.

They were still flying, she could tell, and they had been flying for a very long time.

Why was the bad werecat laughing? Did he enjoy this? Why?

Bo tucked her small ears behind her head as she crawled deeper into the back of the box, as far away possible from the evil laughter.

The box lurched. They were descending now. She could hear the muffled flapping of the werecat's cape die down and the cold air from outside suddenly turn warm.

Bo's pitch-black world was pierced by a harsh light The cat-like hand sneaked up from behind and forced her into a larger cage, this one had wires where she could peer out of.

A remembering look flashed across the werekitten's watery blue eyes.

Tons of cages were stacked up on her side of the wall, along with the one opposite of her. In those cages resided more animals, mostly cats, and mostly ghosts.

_Trapped again…._

Of course, this was nothing new. Where else had she been before _Daddy _found her?

_Before the bad werecat took her from this very same cage and placed her in that tree._

It was the same cage, the same room-

_hissssssssss_

The rustle of scales interrupted her sad thoughts. There was movement in the next cage over. Bo perked her ears up hopefully.

_Friend?_

Two, icy blue glowing eyes stared back. Slowly the creature eased itself forward, moving in one, smooth motion. It poked its reptilian head through one of the square holes of the cage, flickering its tongue hopefully.

Bo reached out a gentle paw and gave it a few soft strokes.

_Even her neighbors were the same ones as last time._

She stopped her friendly exchange with the snake and sulked to a far corner of the cage.

If everything was the same, then how long would it be until the bad werecat came back to give her more _experiments?_

She had to get out of here, she just HAD to!

Bo darted to the door of the cage and tackled it head on, and when that didn't work she got up and used her claws and teeth.

_She had to get out..._

Soon Bo's tiny claws and teeth began to tire, in fact they hurt… really bad. She stopped and rubbed her pink little nose against the bars of the cage instead, she rubbed and rubbed until her nose was raw and hurt as well.

Finally the werekitten collapsed to the metallic floor of the cage, more from exhaustion than anything else.

_Daddy… daddy where are you?_

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**Are you following me with this?**** Please, if you have a****ny questions, ask. I'm trying to be as clear as possible, but I know some if the stuff out there is very easy to get lost in. **

**…**

**Anyone know who the mysterious kitty bandit is?**


	12. Oh noes!

Most, and if I'm not mistaken, ALL of those who guessed got it right. The kitty bandit was Vlad.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts are in italics, sounds are in **bold** letters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Wisconsin__ Skies, Night_

_-----------------------------------------_

Danny leaned his head back on the leather seat of the specter speeder. Thought was drifting unevenly in and out of between his senses.

_Maybe this isn't a good idea… going to Vlad's_

His friends and sister were worried; it was pretty easy to tell. He could see their persistent glances coming over in his direction. Jazz had already offered several times to drive back.

"No, I'm fine. Keep going."

"_No,_" Danny told himself, _"I'm not fine"_

It wasn't easy to accept the fact that he had no idea what was messing with his system right now, making him feel… drowsy.

He tilted his ears back woozily.

_Drowsy, _now THAT was a friendly word.

**Thud**

**-------------------------------------------**-----**---------------------------------------------------**

Vlad Plasmius Werecat jetted his way silently and invisibly over to the specter speeder with a smirk on his face that says "I own the world." How could he not be happy? Daniel made it so easy. There's the boy now. What's this? Oh, it looks like the tranquilizer did a very good job, he's lying in the back of the vehicle, completely blacked out by the looks of it. His friends are busy with the GPS up front.

Sam looked back to check on Danny every few seconds with a sorry expression on her face. Vlad took note to watch out for her as he landed and prepared to move in.

The kidnapping was quick and well done. Nobody noticed Danny's unconscious form sinking slowly into the cushioned seat of the Specter Speeder. In one last puff of icy breath, the teenage werecat was trapped in the plotting tabby claws of Vlad Plasmius.

_Too easy._

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vlad noticed in mid-flight that Danny had gotten heavier since the last time he carried the ghost boy to his home. It wasn't any lack of exercise either, was the younger halfa actually getting a little muscle on those scrawny arms?

Danny subconsciously flexed his fingers and hands as if he were unsheathing imaginary claws in his sleep, breathing small, quick wisps of cold air. This made Vlad chuckle. Even as a part feline human, Danny reminded the older ghost of a little badger.

Of course, this made the lonely halfa's thoughts stray over to what it would be like to have the perfect son… the perfect ghost son to be more specific. Someone that was actually happy to see him every day, someone that would turn ask for "Dad"when life caught him in a sticky situation.

Danny made a stressed, sighing sound and pulled his lips back to expose threatening feline fangs.

_"And_" Vlad thought bitterly, _"If I can't have Daniel as my son, I'll have to settle for a __**substitute**__"_

The word 'substitute' stayed ringing in his thoughts for several seconds, making him smirk once more.

_"A substitute… you can't escape me now Daniel"_

A cold gust of wind made the older werecat's cape whip to the side. It was a good thing he was almost home. Vlad could smell rain coming, and rain did not do and favors for his thick tabby coat.

----------------------------------------------------

Bo paced her cage as much as the limited space allowed her. Where's Bad Werecat? WHAT is he doing? Her agitated tail gave a quivering twitch as she pressed her raw nose through the bars of the cage.

Machines, giant claws, pointed tools… all of them and other things she couldn't comprehend hung on the far side of the room, next to more occupied cages.

A large white cat with cold yellow eyes caught her staring in its direction and gave her a nasty glare. She took a hesitant step back. The white cat flicked its ears in satisfaction and turned its back to her. Bo caught glimpse of an ugly web-shaped scar dominating half of its face, and she shivered.

_Wait, what was that?_

Her sensitive nose told her that a new presence was coming into the room. Instinctively, Bo flattened herself to the bottom of the cage and turned invisible.

Bad Werecat phased gently through the ceiling, silently landing on the tiled floor using large cat-like feet with monstrous black claws that stayed unsheathed and wouldn't retract.

He looked towards Bo's cage and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. With a quick sniff of the air to make sure the werekitten was still there, he walked over and knelt down. The sound of a large cage door opening below was heard.

Bo gave up hiding and turned visible again to check on what was happening. Her young voice gave a startled squeak.

Bad Werecat had Daddy!

-------------------------------------------------------------

_poke__… __… __poke…_

Danny gave a groggy moan to whatever was prodding at his senses.

_Poke…_

Something small pushed itself onto the top of his head and away again. He continued to ignore it, the effects of the tranquilizer making him unsteady. Without warning, the unknown force became frustrated and the poking became more persistent.

_POKE__!POKE__!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE! _

Danny forced himself to open his eyes. Through blurry vision, he made out the impression of metal bars.

Realization oozed upon him slowly.

_"I'm in a cage__…__"_

He blinked several times, trying to wake up.

_MEW!_

The familiar voice made Danny come to life. He jerked his head upward and immediately wished he hadn't acted so abruptly, the back of his neck hurt where the dart had injected him. He reached back to rub the sore spot, feeling an extending growth of fur along his spine.

"_Whoa, since when did I have fur?"_

POKE!

The impatient prodding on the top of his head reminded Danny why he had looked up in the first place.

"Bo?"

The werekitten prowled in tiny circles above his head, sticking a paw through the bottom hole of her cage. She gave him a rumbling purr.

Danny felt a sharp pang of guilt looking at the state of his kitten. Her fur was ruffled, her nose looked dry, he even noticed a bit of blood caking the ridges of her toes as he removed her claws from his hair.

_"__I should have taken her with us__…" _He clenched his jaw together, angry with himself for letting this happen. _"I'm such an idiot!"_

_Mrrrrrrrrow_

Bo told him something between a purr and a meow. He gave the kitten a curious look, poking his fingers into her cage. She received them happily, trapping his index finger between her paws and suckling it. Danny smiled, he was forgiven.

Suddenly her calm expression turned to alarm and she dug her claws into his finger tips as if trying to hold on tight.

Danny inhaled sharply from the pain and a strong chill that traveled down his spine. Heavy footsteps approached the room, and a silver, silver tabby werecat in a business suit entered the room. The smug expression on his face was unmistakable. Danny felt his hackles bristle violently.

Vlad is in the house.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ho hum… slow chapter…

On a more positive note, thanks to all you people who voted on the poll. I got more votes than I expected!

You guys rock.

**_GladiatorQueen_**


	13. Captive

Vlad's human form seemed to have maintained a very dignified composure, even with his feline related transformation. His clean, short striped tabby fur and carefully assembled choice of clothing told Danny that being a werecat probably didn't stop his arch enemy from continuing business throughout the ghost zone.

Vlad gave Danny a politely curious stare, the cold blue of his eyes adding to the teenager's tension.

Danny, however, took the opposite course to greeting his captor.

"Go and crawl back into that lonely hole you came from!" The teenage halfa snarled, gripping the bars of his cage.

Vlad twitched his white whiskers, a brief sign of amusement.

"Moody today, are we?"

Danny licked his lips, silently debating whether or not to answer. He was pretty sure Vlad was trying some verbal trick to bash on his self-esteem.

"I asked you a question Daniel."

"So you did."

The older werecat's eyes flashed violently.

Danny couldn't stop his ears from tilting back a little nervously.

"_Okay, so maybe talking back to the enemy while I'm still IN the cage wasn't the greatest idea."_

Vlad's non-retractable claws clicked against the floor and added an intimidating affect as he came real close to peer into the stubborn teenager's cage.

"If I were you, I'd cooperate." He paused to check the lock on the cage door. "You're in no state to do anything"

With that, Vlad took out a key and began to turn the lock open.

When the door swung open, Danny suddenly decided he would rather stay in the cage than go out where Vlad wanted him. He scrambled back desperately from Vlad's furry hand.

It didn't stop the older werecat from grabbing him roughly from the front shirt collar and pulling back hard.

"Graah! Let go!"

On instinct, two hovering rings formed and split around Danny with a high pitched humming. Black hair and fur turned glossy white, black and white jumpsuit replaced T-

shirt and jeans, dangerously slitted neon green eyes replaced innocent baby blue ones.

With feline fangs bared, Danny tackled Vlad headfirst, chomping down on the wrist of the hand that was still clutching stubbornly to the front of his shirt.

Vlad released his grip on Danny, instead he wrapped fingers around the boy's throat, forcing him away. There was more than one way to get Daniel to obey, and he had been prepared for a rebellious attack. Keeping a careful grip in the raging werecat, his other hand began to glow a dangerous pink. Making sure Danny could see what he was doing; he pointed his makeshift weapon at Bo's cage.

The teenage werecat's eyes widened in horror.

"Vlad… please…" he choked out.

"Stand up boy."

Danny quietly did as he was told, glaring daggers at Vlad. The older werecat ignored it and used a plasma-like substance to tie Danny's hands behind his back.

"What is it you want?" The teenager demanded, finding that a hiss had worked its way into his outraged voice.

A cold, almost silent laugh answered him. Vlad took a large metal ring off the table and fiddled with it until a tiny latch clicked open. Danny lifted his chin defiantly while the device was fitted around his neck.

"Daniel," Vlad started, still working on the collar, "I still can't believe when I dropped the cat in a tree, even with the note and everything, you brought it into your home."

Danny felt the fur on his neck bristle defensively. Vlad's tone was almost father-like, like he actually cared… and spoke about Bo like "the cat," was just a simple object.

"Since that nuisance bit me, I've been looking for a cure."

"Why did you have her in the first place?"

"When DALV incorporated began selling pet vaccinations to animal hospitals around the world, well, we needed animals to test for side effects."

Danny scanned the sorry faces in every cage of the room, lingering for a few moments on Bo's anxious face watching from the shadows.

"Bo was a test animal?" His fangs locked together at the thought, "Why use ghost animals?"

Vlad tightened the collar another notch. "It was a waste of money when we had to constantly… replace animals that proved our vaccinations to be fatal."

The collar tightened again, it was getting hard for Danny to breathe now. Alarm swept briefly through the teenager as he considered the fact that Vlad might slowly be trying to suffocate him, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

"You're using ghosts because they can't die like normal animals? That's disgusting."

Vlad caught onto the rasp behind Danny's voice and loosened the collar a bit… just a bit.

"You have no say in the matter Daniel."

The older werecat's hands stopped working on the collar, instead holding the younger werecat's head forward with a massive hand.

Danny flicked his snow-white ear nervously, feeling uncomfortably helpless.

What was the fruitloop doing?

Something pricked at the side of his arm. It was small, it was sharp, most of all, it **hurt.**

"OW! Wha-"

"Stop moving Daniel."

"No! Get away!"

Danny snarled, puffing his tail up to its full capacity. He was being just about as cooperative as it gets with Vlad, he wasn't about to let the lonely 40-year old begin injecting him with random needles.

"What did you do? Tell me!" That fiery werecat feeling was coming back, welling up inside him and swirling together with a surge of overwhelming panic.

Danny looked at Vlad, the source of his fear. He saw the needle in his hand; the syringe full of neon green blood. Vlad wasn't injecting him with anything; he was taking a blood sample.

"_He's taking a blood sample, WHY IS HE TAKING A BLOOD SAMPLE?" _

"VLAD!" Danny took a staggering step back. The device around his neck suddenly seemed to constrict.

"_I can't breathe, the collar's too tight!" _

His vision wasn't becoming blurry anymore, it was becoming dark. Without warning, that darkness became a wave, and it swallowed him up, turning his world black.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The constant swish of Vlad's tail brought Danny back into the real world. The cool, smooth, surface of metal stretched out from under him, sturdy iron bars surrounded its edges. The new cage allowed the teenage werecat to lie down, but only rose about a yard above his head.

Danny twitched his whiskers, feeling cold and isolated. That tart hospital smell in the room didn't help.

The silver tail sweeping the floor in front of him came to an abrupt halt, as if sensing a change in the room. Before Danny was tempted to reach out and bite it, Vlad whipped around and crouched down to eye-level of the cage. His non-retractable claws squealed non-too pleasantly on the lab floor. "Well, look who's

awake." Vlad grinned, flashing his feline fangs mockingly.

"Where's Bo?" Danny hissed, sounding a lot more desperate than he intended.

"Where you last saw her Daniel, you've been relocated to the testing room."

"I've been relocated to WHAT?"

Vlad ignored him, laughing that cold, quiet laugh of his. "And to think, Amity Park's greatest super hero going into hysterics over a little blood sample."

Danny's silky black ears fell back in embarrassment.

"That's okay though," Vlad continued, showing his captive a small remote, "any wild animal can be tamed with a little training."

"I'm not a wild animal!" Danny protested angrily.

Vlad shook his head slowly in disappointment. "Behavior, Daniel." He reminded gently. The older werecat casually pressed a button on the remote.

Immediately Danny's hands flew to the collar on his neck, giving a short cry of pain as small, sharp bolts of electricity began to surge from the device.

Vlad watched his victim squirm, plain amusement slathered over his expression.

Finally, Danny shuddered involuntarily against the cage floor, convincing the older werecat that the short torture was enough.

Vlad turned the collar off. "Will you be good now?" He asked the panting werecat.

Danny refrained from answering and fingered the ring of metal around his neck, instead, focusing on breathing and keeping a straight face at the same time.

"I'll take that as a yes." Vlad smirked, watching Danny continue to tug at the collar. "Do you like it? I call it the Specter Restrainer."

"Creative." Danny muttered quietly.

"You've got the latest version!" Vlad said proudly. "I can actually choose whether I want to strangle, shock, and might I add; it a wide selection of the voltage level…"

Danny couldn't help rolling his eyes as Vlad continued to ramble on about his torture devices.

The older werecat stopped in mid-sentence and pricked up his ears. Only moments later, a

machine on the counter began to give off a high pitched beeping and Vlad hurried to come to its aid.

The machine carried a miniature tray of test tubes, most of them remained empty, but further in the back of the variation, Vlad removed a tube half-filled with a thick substance. Clear, water like fluid stayed near its bottom, gradually turning into a neon green as it neared the top.

Danny's whiskers gave a twitch of recognition as he saw the material of what used to be his blood, tested and poured into yet another fancy and unrecognizable machine.

"_He's up to something…"_

Vlad suddenly stopped bustling around the lab, and looked up at the clock, twitching his ears and whiskers. Then, as if he could sense

Danny's suspicions, his cold gaze swept carefully over the cage door before the silver werecat clicked his way out of the room on non-retractable claws.

Danny pressed his face against the bars of the cage for a glimpse at the clock.

"_It's really late… Fruitloop must have gone to bed."_

He twitched his nose in disgust.

"_Gosh, I hate the smell of this room, I mean, really, who has a lab that smells like medication, gym socks, and snicker doodles…"_

Danny stopped and blinked.

"_There's only one person on this earth who wears cologne that smells like gym socks and snicker doodles."_

The door to the lab creaked open slowly, sending a weak beam of light into the room.

"Tucker!"

---------------------------------------------------

…

_GladiatorQueen_


	14. It runs in the family

Tucker didn't waste time trying to pick the lock apart, that's what the Fenton Laser was for. The cage door was open in no time at all.

"Dude, come on," he whispered urgently," I saw Vlad put the ghost shield up; we have to make it out to Jazz and Sam on foot; not to mention we've got to get that collar off of you." Tucker had already started dragging his friend toward the door as he said so.

Much to his despair, Danny stopped them both.

"Wait, we have to get Bo too."

"He's got your cat too?"

Danny nodded slowly, concentrating in the floor tiles.

"What are y-"

Before Tucker could finish his sentence, Danny's clamped his hand over the other his friend's mouth in a flash of cat-like reflexes and hissed a warning for total silence.

Tucker watched in stunned interest as Danny's nose twitched briskly in order to get a decent sense of their surroundings.



The young werecat then put on a focused face and slowly revolved his ears in a semi-circle. Finally, an accomplished grin broke across his lips. He moved to the door in a quick, fluid movement and signaled Tucker to do the same.

Together, the two crept their way through the dark hallways of Vlad's basement.

Now, Vlad Masters is a very wealthy man, which, naturally, means he has a lot of stuff. Unfortunately for the two teenagers, this means they have a very big basement to search. Even with Danny's enhanced senses, the search proved to be difficult. There was a lot of creeping, twitching, and "hissing."

After many complicated twists and turns down several dark and forbidding hallways, Danny drew them to a halt by a thick iron door.

"Bo…" he murmured in relief. A gentle purr entered his tone.

The teenage werecat tried the handle unsuccessfully.

"Locked…" Danny huffed in annoyance. He then gave his hand an experimental look. A soft green glow began 

creeping into the irises of his eyes as his hand faded into thin air.

Danny gave his now invisible hand a go at phasing through the door; the cold metal surface gave an unexpected hum in response, warning the young werecat to back off with a crackling shock of electricity.

"Mrrowl!" Danny cried in surprise, his fingertips blackened from the abuse.

Suddenly the basement was alive with red lights and a screeching siren that made the teenage werecat's sensitive hearing shatter in pain.

"What part of "Vlad put the ghost shield up." did you n -"

"Be quiet and get back!" Danny snarled at Tucker. The young halfa's eyes burned an intense green, signaling for a snowy wave of white that washed over his hair and fur, and a sharp black jumpsuit that replaced his usual everyday outfit.

He held his hand back and tensed the muscles in it. A low crackling sound was heard as luminous green ectoplasm seemed to grow and sharpen on his fingertips 

until he had a lethal set of radiating feline claws extending from them.

Surprise and slight alarm briefly etched Danny's pale features before his entire body shook with a feral snarl and he ripped at the door in front of him. The iron melted and tore away on instant contact.

The werecat stole his way into the room, starting at one row of cages and trailing along the line with his deadly new claws. The metal cage doors split into pieces and animals jumped out in turn. When Bo's turn came, she scampered under the operation table to hide as her daddy finished his noble deeds.

When a last disfigured rabbit dashed away to its freedom, Danny knelt down. The blazing effect of the high pitched alarms seemed to finally be getting the best of his sensitive hearing.

The plasma claws jutting from his fingertips melted quickly away into small puddles of acidy goo on the floor.

He motioned toward his kitten hiding under the table.

"Bo."



She streaked out obediently from her refuge and into "daddy's" arms. Danny stood up, holding Bo close as he ran toward the door.

"We've got to go Tucker!"

Danny and Tucker dashed down the basement, their path now lit up by red alarms illuminating the room. Danny stayed a few steps ahead of Tucker. He flattened his huge feline ears helplessly against the noise of the sirens and kept his nose pointed slightly upward, searching for the hint of an escape.

It wasn't easy. Cold, yet somehow stifling air seemed to clog Danny's senses. When a warm and familiar scent finally seemed to creep into range, it wasn't what he was expecting. The teenage werecat stopped, his neck fur prickling warningly.

Tucker nearly collided into him from behind, making Bo squeal in fear. Danny subconsciously cupped his hand over the werekitten's head in a protective manner and ducked into the room ahead.

"Danny!" Tucker called as he chased after them.



The halfa ignored him and went on ahead, following his nose. He wasn't going to stop until he found out where that scent was coming from. It wasn't right, that smell did NOT belong in Vlad's house.

The room they had entered was surprisingly cold. In fact, Danny could see his own breath condensing into thin clouds of vapor. Underneath the werecat's gloved hands, Bo's fur bristled up for some warmth.

Just as Tucker caught up with them, the red alarms and sirens stopped, leaving the three in a quiet peaceful room. Only a dim green glow and the low hum of machines occupied them.

The place was fairly small, five big glass tubes lined up across the opposite wall. The tube in the middle was filled with a light fluidly substance.

Danny's tail twitched a little nervously as he recognized the source of the familiar smell. Quietly, with only his white boots grazing the tiled floor, the werecat passed off his precious kitten to Tucker and approached the tube. As he got closer, the faint silhouette of a cat-like human figure became more evident.



Soon he was right in front of the thing. He produced a small green orb of plasma to provide some strict light. When Danny got his good look at the figure in the tube, he realized he was staring at his own face.

An exact CLONE of his own face to be more specific, cat features and all.

The young halfa gasped. So this was what Vlad was up to. The fruitloop was trying his cloning project all over again. Yet, this time he had a full sample of Danny's ectoplasm.

He took a few steps closer so he was almost pressed against the glass.

_That ectoplasm was just what Vlad needed to stabilize the clone, so it wouldn't melt to death like his previous attempts had done before._

Danny was broken out of his trance by the faint feel of the glass vibrating. His neck fur bristled in alarm and he realized that the plasma in his hand was heating the cold glass. If he wasn't panicking, Danny probably could have slapped himself for doing something so stupid.



There had probably been a reason Vlad was keeping the room so cold, not to mention that glass explodes when it's exposed to quick changes in temperature.

His panic escalated when the clone squirmed, and Danny's feline ears picked up a faint heartbeat, getting stronger with every second.

Now the glass was really vibrating. The teenage werecat retreated with all of his cat-like skill, just before a thin spider web of cracks covered the glass tube, and the entire thing burst. The clone dropped like dead weight right into the mess on the tile.

The trio stared in shock, Danny partially expecting to see a replica of his own dead body on the floor.

But it moved.

Face down on the tile, the clone's long, wet, feline tail swept through the shards of glass littering the floor. Then, slowly, it cringed onto its side as if in pain and mumbled something inaudible before opening its eyes.

The clone's eyes were colorless and grey as if they were sightless. It blinked several times, trying to focus. Soon a familiar baby blue began to flood into its eyes. "Dad…"



The clone's young voice cracked in the middle of speaking, but it was determined.

"Dad!"

This time it sounded stronger, but upon being unanswered, the clone seemed to panic. It pulled itself up into a sitting position and hugged its knees, beginning to shiver and whine uncontrollably.

Danny and Tucker looked at each other, both wondering what to do. Finally, Tucker took the lead with Danny close behind.

Their footsteps seemed to alert the clone of their presence for the first time ever. Its feline ears swiveled upward almost as quickly as its head. It kept its eyes on Tucker as the group came closer.

Tucker knelt carefully down next to the copy of his friend, a little nervously. The clone whined and sniffed the air, moving away.

Danny tried approaching next. The clone was too busy stressing out that it didn't notice the original halfa coming forward. But when it saw those snow-white boots in front of its face, it slowly looked up at Danny 

and **snarled, **bearing its feline fangs aggressively at the other werecat that looked just like him.

Danny and Tucker retreated several steps back. From Tucker's arms, Bo whimpered.

The clone shakily got up onto its knees, still shivering.

"Go away…" it growled in Danny's voice.

It seemed to be attempting a threatening stance when it suddenly froze, pricking its ears up.

"DANIEL!"

It was the voice of someone concerned, someone who really cared for that clone. Everyone turned and saw Vlad standing in the doorway

The clone Daniel gave out a low whine. "Dad… dad help me…"

--

And if you liked Danny kitty before, now you've got TWO of 'em! :)



And now I'm going to do something I really don't like… I'm going to make excuses.

Okay guys, I'm really sorry about this super late update. I usually write my stuff on the weekends because I'm busy during the week. But lately I've been busy on the weekends too: going out of town for sports, having relatives over, my history teacher decided to throw a ginormous project at us with a shorter due date than usual, and, I hate to admit it, but I've been a bit lazy with the writing too. So, I'm trying to be better… just… bear with me and you'll always see the next chapter.

GladiatorQueen


	15. Competition

More clarification:

Daniel is now the name of the clone

Danny is still the name of the original

--

A crackling pink ring appeared around Vlad as he turned into his bristly, dark brown, ghost-werecat self in response to his "son's" cry for help. He rushed over in time to catch the dazed clone before he stumbled over.

From the safety of Vlad' arms, Daniel took the opportunity to shoot a nasty glare at his original.

Danny was taken aback.

"You're clone's not looking too friendly Danny." Tucker whispered.

One of Vlad's large feline ears swiveled around at the statement. The tabby werecat turned around, still giving Daniel some support. "You shouldn't be here boy." He growled at Tucker. "And you," Vlad's eyes narrowed into thin slits as he slid his gaze over to Danny, "you shouldn't be out of your cage.

Danny felt his hand involuntarily warm up with a fresh wave of ectoplasmic energy. "So what do you want now Vlad?" he vented crossly, "You have your clone, obviously I'm free, it's not like you can lock me up again, not with your little Daniel having a fit like that!" He directed his last insult at the hostile clone.

Daniel gave a rumbling growl.

Vlad responded with a lash of his tail. "You think I'm going to let you go just because I have Daniel? That I was stupid enough to create a clone with top mental capability and a fully-fledged English vocabulary, but not give him the topmost durability possible?"

Daniel smugly straightened up on his own as Vlad said this, showing off his shiny new set of feline fangs.

"I still need to perform some experiments to test any flaws on Daniel." Vlad stated professionally. "If I were you, I'd get back in my cage before someone gets hurt." The bristly werecat's gaze flickered suggestingly over to Bo and Tucker.

"Yes, get back in your cage, _copy_." Daniel took the company by surprise by conversing for the first time.

"Look who's talking, _clone._" Danny shot back.

Daniel hissed.

In a blur of speed, Danny grabbed Tucker by one of the straps on his backpack and jetted out of the room.

"Ow! A little warning would be nice next time, dude!" Tucker fussed as they flew down the hallway.

"No time, how do you get out of here?"

The tiled floor raced by under them and Bo began to whine.

"Turn right up ahead!"

The entire group took a sudden swerve in the air and was racing upward, a staircase briefly became visible under their feet, running by like a treadmill track before it disappeared and they were speeding to and through a large door that swung open on impact. A crisp gust met the trio, signaling that they had made it outside.

Danny came to a halt and let Tucker down. As the young werecat landed he scooped Bo out of his friends arm and pressed his cheek against her for a long moment, purring deeply.

"Danny! Tucker!"

Sam's slim silhouette appeared in what looked like the open door to the Specter Speeder.

"Sam!" Both boys yelled in unison as they began to run toward the vehicle. Jazz revved up the engine and stomped on the pedal as soon as they were safely inside.

"Are we being followed?" Sam demanded as they buckled in their seatbelts.

"I don't know." Danny replied. He kept Bo close against the fabric of his jumpsuit, replacing the role of a heater. "I don't think Vlad's going to let us get away that easily though… he cloned me again, and he still wants me for more experiments."

Jazz took a moment to send a worrisome glance her brother. "He's cloning you again? Did he get it right, or is it another girl?

Danny shook his head, making his feline ears tilt back miserably. "He really did it this time. It's an exact copy, a werecat."

Without warning, a monstrous thud banged on the roof of the Specter Speeder, and the vehicle jerked a few yards downward from the impact.

"Holy crud!" Danny exclaimed, looking out the window.

A pattern of clomps worked its way across the roof and stopped above Danny's window. Suddenly the face of the clone was visible, upside down from the roof. His hair was pure white and his eyes were neon green, just like Danny in his ghost form. Daniel saw his original and bared his fangs in a hiss, but the sound stayed muted from behind the sound-proof glass.



"Danny!" Jazz yelled as she brought the Specter Speeder back into balance. "Get **IT** off the roof!"

"I'm working on it!"Danny gave Bo to Sam and dove through and out the window.

On top of the Specter Speeder, Daniel crouched. He looked furious and hungry. Yet somehow, the way his tail twitched, or the insane look his slitted glowing eyes presented, he seemed thrilled.

Danny charged up an orb of ectoplasm and shot it at the clone. Daniel was set off instantly. He jumped off with a graceful leap from the vehicle and flew back up; ramming into Danny and throwing them both back down on the Specter Speeder's roof.

The two werecats kicked and clawed at each other. Daniel pulled at his opponent's snowy white hair, and Danny retaliated with an angry bite on the clone's wrist. Daniel yowled and tugged his wrist back, this encouraged Danny and he dug his fangs in deeper.

"Stop! Please!" The clone begged, alarmed and beginning to tug harder at the sight of bright green blood seeping out of the wound.

Danny relaxed his grip on the clone, allowing it to pull away. Then he hastily wiped Daniel's blood from his lips using his hand. It tasted horrible.

The clone tenderly put his hand over the bite marks on his wrist.

"Ow…" he whispered, marveling at the stinging new feeling.

Daniel stared at his original, giving him a bewildered look that slowly turned violent. The corner of the clone's mouth slowly turned upward.

With sudden speed, Daniel struck the other werecat with a hard kick that knocked him flat on the ground.

Danny felt his head thwack down harshly on the metal surface, and was disoriented for a few brief seconds as his mind clung back onto reality.

The clone's heavy white boot to come down heavily on Danny's chest and pinned him to the ground.

Daniel leered, "You're not very smart, are you? You make me look bad to my father." He slid his boot forward, sliding Danny along with it until the poor teenage werecat's head was hanging over the rim of the Specter Speeder's roof. Danny's bleach-white hair whipped around in the turbulent air, getting in his face and eyes.

Daniel began to press his boot down harder on his original's chest, and Danny started to claw desperately at the clone's ankle.

Daniel smiled winningly. "You know, dad wanted you back alive, so he could do all these tests on you. But…"

He paused and seemed to maul over what he was about to say, but it quickly became evident to Danny that his clone just wanted to draw the anxiety out.

"It doesn't seem right that we should both exist in the same world like this. There's a certain value we lose when someone who is exactly the same as you becomes real…" The clone spoke conversationally as his boot edged its way closer and closer to Danny's collared throat. "**I** want a full value."

The trapped werecat's desperate clawing suddenly became more rapid.

Daniel smiled openly, his pearly white fangs showing in delight at the sound of his victim's breath turning into short gasps.

"D…dan...iel!" Danny choked.

"Kudos to you too, Copy."

Danny whimpered softly until Daniel's weight gradually muted him.

Suddenly a furious shriek ripped across the air, and the weight of the clone's boot vanished. Danny took the opportunity to take in a huge gasp of air.

Daniel backed away and clawed through his bleach white hair, trying to reach the angry Bo that had appeared and was yanking hair out by the pawful.

"OW! OH CRUD! GET OFF!" Daniel yowled, trying to shake the kitten off by turning intangible and back again.

Danny stood up, bewildered. "Bo!" He hollered, taking action on a split second decision. The young werecat bolted toward Daniel and collided into him head first.

While the two thudded to the floor, Bo scampered away and disappeared into the Specter Speeder.

Danny snarled, rage making his fur bristle and his eyes burn an even brighter acid green. He dug his fingertips into the clones shoulders, making them glow softly with plasma. Daniel kicked and struggled in alarm as the substance on Danny's fingers hardened and sharpened into needle-like points.

"Worthless, obdurate, filth!" Daniel spat."Release me now!" He thrashed angrily and bit down on Danny's wrist, making him yowl and let go.

The clone scrambled away from his attacker, wincing as fresh green ecto-plasm ran down his arms. "I'll tell father what you did! Brace yourself for an impending world of pain and regret, Copy!"

Daniel vanished then, only a thin trail of glowing green blood on the roof of the Specter Speeder revealed that he had just been present.

--



Battle scenes are always fun to write, but I'll warn you now that our lovely story is drawing to a close; one or two more chapters to go!

GladiatorQueen


End file.
